With the Paris Olympics now underway, we thought it would be good to turn our attention to some of New Zealand’s Olympic history.  Over our 116-year Olympic history, we’ve sent over 1500 athletes to the Summer Games. Sadly, around 85% of them have returned empty-handed.  In this article we don't want to celebrate those who came forth and conquered, rather those who came fourth. Those who have had the gut-wrenching experience of coming fourth.  So close to a medal – often milliseconds or centimetres - yet so far. Just over 50 of our Olympic athletes have finished fourth, with nine of those heartbreaks happening in the 2016 Olympics in Rio alone.

We’ll leave it up to you to place them on the heartbreak-ometer from disappointed through desolate to devastated, but here in chronological order are some of our fourth-placed heroes.

Bill Savidan, a long-distance runner who had not one, but two near misses at the 1932 Los Angeles Games, fourth in both the 5000m and 10,000m events.

Val Young was a shot put and discus specialist who came 5th in Melbourne in 1956.  It looked like she’d done enough in Rome (1960) to win bronze only to be pipped by the American thrower.  She also finished fourth in Tokyo in 1964.  Some might argue she could have come away with two medals if she had faced fair competition from those suspiciously muscular Eastern Bloc athletes.  We couldn’t possibly comment.

Perhaps the saddest story is Bruce Biddle, our cyclist, who missed a medal on a technicality after finishing third in the road race at the 1972 Munich Olympics. He came in fourth on the day but when the gold-medal winner was disqualified after testing positive, you’d assume Biddle would have got the bronze.  Unfortunately, although he had offered to take a post-race drug test after the event, he was turned away. And in the absence of that test he couldn’t be awarded the bronze and so remained in fourth!

Rebecca Perrott had only just turned 15 at the Montreal Olympics.  She smashed her PB in the heats of the 400m freestyle and was the fastest qualifier for the final.  Despite continuing her form  (another PB), she came in fourth, 0.16 seconds off a podium finish.

The men’s rowing eight in 1984 arrived in Los Angeles with two World Championship titles and high hopes for a medal especially as the Eastern Bloc were boycotting these Games. But after a slow start in the deciding row, they were edged out by (you guessed it) Australia for third place by just 0.34 seconds.

And of course there’s Emma Twigg’s story of redemption. She came fourth in her single skulls in two consecutive Olympics before finally clinching gold in Tokyo in 2021.

The Women’s Black Sticks were just 17 minutes away from a spot in the gold medal match at the 2012 London Olympics. They held a lead over the Dutch side (eventual gold winners) twice, only to lose the penalty shoot-out 3-1. They also lost the bronze medal match to the hosts 3-1. Four years later in Rio, they once again lost both their semifinal and the bronze medal match.

When Sir Mark Todd and Leonidas II entered the Rio Olympic team showjumping ring in Rio, a clear round would have given the New Zealand eventing team a maiden gold medal, three dropped rails would mean bronze. But alas, those dreams were shattered by four errors.

The New Zealand cycle team that attended Rio came back with just one silver medal. The men’s pursuit team, who were world champions in 2015 and had bronze medals from the 2013 and 2014 World Champs, returned empty-handed.  Not to be outdone, the women’s pursuit also came fourth.

Finally in the last Olympics, the Women’s K4 500m came in fourth despite the presence of Lisa Carrington and Caitlin Regal in the team.  Carrington had already won 3 golds in the K1 200, K1 500 and K2 500 with Regal.  So perhaps fair to give other countries a chance to stand on the podium.

So, here’s to our fourth-place heroes. You may not have a medal, but you’ve got our respect and admiration.