Nico Porteous and Zoi Sadowski-Synnott have been made Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit after both winning golds at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. Photo: AFP
New Zealand gold medallists at both Summer and Winter Olympics have been recognised in the honours announced today.
Two of the country's finest rowers have been appointed Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit - Hamish Bond and Eric Murray, who won gold in the men's coxless pairs at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. They also won seven consecutive world rowing championship titles in the same event and another two in the coxed pair and had an unbeaten partnership over 69 races.
Bond was also a member of the gold medal-winning men's eight crew at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, becoming the only New Zealand man to win gold medals at three successive Olympics.
Hamish Bond and Eric Murray who were unbeaten over 69 races. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has been made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
She won gold in the slopestyle at the 2022 Winter Olympics, becoming New Zealand's first gold medallist at a Winter Olympics, followed with a silver medal in the big air event.
Nico Porteous who was a gold medallist in the men's freeski halfpipe at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics has been appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to snow sports.
The gold medal adds to the bronze he won in 2018 when he was just 16 - at the time the first Winter Olympics medal ever won by a New Zealand man.
Both Sadowksi-Synnott and Porteous have mentored younger skiers and snowboarders in New Zealand.
Leigh Gibbs who has been a player, coach, umpire and administrator during her 50-year involvement in netball has been made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit alongside Kereyn Smith, the former chief executive of the New Zealand Olympic Committee.
Squash player Paul Coll has had a breakthrough year in his sport, becoming world No 1 for the first time. He also became the first Kiwi man to win the gold medal at squash at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and partnered Joelle King to also take gold in the mixed doubles.
He has won the national men's title five times and is the current British Open champion.
He has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Paul Coll celebrates winning the 2022 British Open. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Adventure racer Nathan Fa'avae has received the same honour for his services to his sport as well as his work on outdoor education and for the Pacific community.
He is a seven-time world champion.
He has also been instrumental in encouraging women to take up the sport, establishing the Spring Challenge Women's Adventure Race in 2007.
The former Outward Bound instructor also founded the Fa'avae Foundation to provide funds for Pacific youth to experience outdoor education.
Corey Peters has been made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit. He has represented New Zealand in the sport of sit-skiing since 2011, having sustained a crushed spinal cord in 2009.
Corey Peters celebrates after winning the men's downhill sitting event at the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre on 5 March, 2022. Photo: AFP
He won the gold medal at the 2022 Beijing Paralympics in the men's downhill sitting event and a silver in the men's Super-G sitting.
He was a silver medallist in his first Paralympics in 2014 in Sochi, followed by a bronze in the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympics.
Anna Harrison has been appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to netball and volleyball.
Harrison has been playing top-level sports for more than 20 years and is a triple-code New Zealand representative having played netball, beach volleyball and indoor volleyball at national level.
