- Nations of the world celebrated the Paris Games
- Were honoured by organisers with a global art piece
- One nation found the gesture to be disrespectful
New Zealanders have gone from celebrating their most successful Olympics ever to being on the end of an emphatic snub during the closing ceremony in Paris.
Thousands of athletes remained in France to celebrate their achievements in the State de France and entered the venue in party mode on Monday morning, Australian time.
That included the Kiwi contingent, who had an Olympic campaign to remember, only to find they’d been forgotten about by organisers.
An artistic rendition of a world map was wheeled out into the stadium to commemorate all athletes during the Games’ last hurrah.
The problem? New Zealand was left of it.
It is a sore point for Australia’s cousins across the ditch, who are routinely omitted from world maps.
It has even sparked a tourism campaign called ‘Get NZ on the Map’ featuring comedian Rhys Darby and former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
New Zealand supporters were incensed when their country was left off a map of the world that was displayed at the Paris Olympics closing ceremony
It comes after Kiwis enjoyed their best Olympics to date, including gold and bronze in the women’s track cycling to Ellesse Andrews (right) and Ally Wollaston
However, Kiwis were not seeing the funny side of the latest snub.
‘The French leave New Zealand off their ‘world’ map, will they never stop insulting us?’ one asked on social media.
‘Yet another world map in which New Zealand disappears,’ posted another.
‘Nah that’s us on the lectern at 4 o’clock, neatly cut off from the rest of the world by a very large sea,’ said another, tongue firmly in cheek.
Others called for Kiwis to cool their jets, with only continents represented and many nations including Sri Lanka, the Phillipines, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea missing out.
Others pointed out that the map was hardly a shining example of geographical accuracy, with the UK nothing but a dark blob and Australia looking very different to how most Aussie remember it.
New Zealand punched well above its weight at the Paris Olympics, with a tally of 20 medals including 10 golds to cap off its best ever 11th place result at the Games.
New Zealand’s Ellesse Andrews celebrates winning the women’s track cycling sprint final before being swiftly forgotten about by Paris Olympics organisers
That result meant that the nation of just over 5 million people would have finished fourth on the leaderboard if it were based on medals per capita, behind tiny nations Grenada, Dominica and Saint Lucia.
Australia would have finished ninth, with Bahrain, Jamaica, Cape Verde and Hungary also sitting above them.
‘I hate to tell all those Aussies banging on about per capita, but the Kiwis have monstered us on that front,’ a Kiwi fan posted.
‘New Zealand’s 10 gold medals equals roughly 1 for every half a million people. Australia’s 18 golds equals roughly 1 for every 1.5 million people.’
New Zealand Chef de Mission Nigel Avery praised the athletes for their performances and conduct at the Games.
‘I’ve been extremely proud of the way our athletes have conducted themselves both on and off the field of play,’ he said.
‘There has been a huge amount of manaaki from our team towards the other nations and it’s been great to see them showcasing our values and culture.
‘We also want to thank New Zealanders for their support of our team. We have felt it from over here and we are looking forward to returning home to share the success and continue to inspire the next generation of athletes.’
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