A record percentage of women will represent New Zealand at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games in a team which includes 233 athletes across 19 sports and two Para-sports.
Hammer thrower Julia Ratcliffe will defend her 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medal in Birmingham. Photo: Alisha Lovrich
Fifty-four percent - or 125 - of the athletes are female which is the highest female representation in New Zealand Commonwealth or Olympic history.
The team members come from a wide range of cultural backgrounds, including athletes with Samoan, Tongan, Cook Islands, Fijian, Filipino, Chinese, Australian, European and African heritage for the Games which start on 29 July.
Forty-six Māori athletes have been selected for New Zealand.
Para-swimmer Dame Sophie Pascoe competes early in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games schedule. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
New Zealand's youngest athlete heading to Birmingham is 16-year-old diver Maggie Squire who is in year 12 at Auckland's Takapuna Grammar School.
At 75-years-old, B2-B3 lawn bowler Sue Curran will become New Zealand's oldest ever Commonwealth Games athlete.
Auckland has produced the largest number of the Commonwealth Games athletes with 57 of the team hailing from the region.
Canterbury comes in second with 32 athletes, the Waikato third with 29 and Bay of Plenty fourth with 17 athletes.
There will be 140 athletes attending their first Commonwealth Games, while the other 93 have already competed at one or more Games.
Gymnast Misha Koudinov and lawn bowler Val Smith are the most capped athletes, heading to their fifth Commonwealth Games.
Misha Koudinov will attend a fifth Commonwealth Games. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
New Zealand chef de mission Nigel Avery said work had been going on behind the scenes to create an environment which allowed the athletes to perform to the best of their abilities in Birmingham.
"We saw some inspiring results from the New Zealand Team at the last Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and we're looking forward to creating further history in Birmingham," Avery said.
The Black Sticks women will be among the first athletes into the village. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The women's rugby sevens team, women's hockey team, 3x3 basketballers, men's artistic gymnasts and lawn bowls athletes will be the first athletes welcomed into the villages, arriving on 22 July in Birmingham.
Athletes and team officials will be housed in three 'campus' villages at The University of Birmingham, The University of Warwick, and The NEC Hotel Campus.
The first athletes in action are the lawn bowls teams on the morning of 29 July.
Birmingham 2022 will make global sport history by becoming the first ever major multi-sport event to award more medals to women than men.
