Bert Sutcliffe was regarded, with the Australian Neil Harvey, as the best left-handed batsman of his generation.

He first made an impact on the cricket world in the summer of 1946-47 when he scored 197 and 128 for Otago against MCC and for the next 20 years, batting records and achievements followed him around.

Among the peerless performances was 385 for Otago against Canterbury in 1952-53 that remains the highest score by a New Zealander.

Sutcliffe, as an opener or middle-order batsman, played in 42 test matches between 1949 and 1965 for 2727 runs at an average of 40.10 and in his overall first-class career he scored 17,447 runs for an average of 47.41 and scored 44 centuries. he became a national hero in 1953-54 in South Africa when he resumed batting after being treated in hospital for a blow on the side of the head. He also captained New Zealand and one of the great ironies of his career was that he was never in a test-winning side.

Chris Bouzaid was one of the yachtsmen who set the course for New Zealand to gain such international renown in ocean racing. He first attempted to win the One Ton Cup, devised as an everyman’s America’s Cup, in 1968 and after finishing second to the German yacht Optimist, crewed for the Germans in the 1968-69 Sydney-Hobart race. Thus armed with sail and other tactical information, Bouzaid and his yacht Rainbow II took on Optimist again in the One Ton Cup off Germany in 1969 and this time he was successful, firmly putting New Zealand on the international yachting map. Bouzaid won the cup again in 1972 and had two seconds as well. He also captained the New Zealand Admiral’s Cup challenge in 1975 and helmed in the 1979 contest, the year the Fastnet race claimed 18 lives

Dame Lois Joan Muir, DNZM, OBE (born 1935) is a New Zealand netball coach and administrator, and a former representative netball and basketball player. Muir represented New Zealand in two sports, playing with the Tall Ferns from 1952–1962 and the Silver Ferns from 1960–1963. She later became head coach of the Silver Ferns for 15 years from 1974–1988. During this time she coached the Silver Ferns to World Championships gold in 1979 (jointly with Australia and Trinidad and Tobago) and in 1987.

Among the champion equestrian riders produced by New Zealand, the name of Mark Todd stands supreme. His record of two Olympic gold medals in the three-day event, at Los Angeles in 1984 and Seoul in 1988, would alone make him one of New Zealand’s outstanding sports people. But he achieved much more besides. He won the three-day event at Badminton, the sport’s Wimbledon, three times as well as a string of other top-line competitions, including world championships. Todd was often referred to as a master horseman who made horse and rider seem as one, and few could have argued with that description. Todd’s successes and examples have inspired others and set the standards to which they aspire. Todd was voted eventing rider of the century in 1999 and at his final Olympics in Sydney in 2000, he won the bronze medal in the three-day event.

To look for the quality of Stewie Dempster as a test batsman, it's only necessary to look at the alltime best averages. At the top is D G Bradman with his unmatchable 99.94 and next comes C S Dempster with 65.72. It may be said that it is an inflated average because he played only 10 tests, but who's to say the consistency Dempster displayed in those tests could not have been carried on? Dempster without question was one of the best batsman to come from New Zealand and at his best, was among the finest in the world. He scored 2165 runs on the 1927 tour of England and in the match against Warwickshire, he hit one bowler for five fours in an over.

When the great soccer players of New Zealand are being discussed, one name unanimously is thrust to the fore. Wynton Rufer burst on the national consciousness when the national team, the All Whites, qualified for the World Cup finals in 1982 and it was not long before he was recognised internationally as well. He played for clubs in Switzerland before he moved to Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga in 1989. There, he became a household name, one of the celebrated superstars of European soccer. In his six years with Werder Bremen, there was league and cup success and he scored one of the goals in the Werder 2-0 defeat of Monaco in the 1992 European Cup Winners Cup final. He also played in Japan, returned for another winner's medal with Kaiserslautern in Germany before returning to New Zealand. He was player-coach of New Zealand's first professional team. He was voted Oceania Player of the Year three times and was named Oceania Footballer of the Century. He is a Fifa ambassador and serves on two Fifa committees.