Anna Grimaldi of Team New Zealand celebrates with a New Zealand flag after winning bronze in the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games. Photo / Getty Images
Anna Grimaldi of Team New Zealand celebrates with a New Zealand flag after winning bronze in the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games. Photo / Getty Images
New Zealand’s Olympic and Paralympic movements could be on the brink of a historic shift, with the two organising bodies formally exploring the possibility of becoming a single organisation.
The New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) and Paralympics New Zealand (PNZ) havelaunched a “Synergy Review” – a feasibility project that could pave the way for a merger and a new era of inclusive representation in elite sport.
The review is being led by organisational strategy specialist Susan Strawbridge, with oversight from a governance group that includes delegates from both boards and executives, and Sport NZ.
Representatives from the NZOC and PNZ declined to be interviewed about the review while it was still in the early stages, but in a joint statement said the decision to explore a merger was based on increasingly close co-operation and a growing sense that a more formal alliance could amplify their collective impact.
“NZOC and PNZ share a common purpose of supporting athletes and inspiring Aotearoa New Zealand through sport. We already work closely together, and this process is about exploring if there is an opportunity to build on that strong foundation to improve the possible impact for athletes and the sector,” the statement said.
While speculation about a merger had been bubbling within the sector, officials stressed that nothing had been decided.
“There is no pre-determined outcome,” the statement said. “It is a proactive step to explore potential opportunities to create greater impact, guided by each organisation’s kaupapa and strategic plans.”
The early phase of the project has involved consultation with staff of each of the organisations, national sporting bodies, athletes’ commissions, and major sector stakeholders. Their feedback would now be weighed by both boards over the coming weeks.
The statement said any final decision would be made jointly by both boards, and only if they agreed it was in the best interests of athletes and the sporting community.
The review would also likely consider optics. While the NZOC and PNZ operated as separate entities, many New Zealanders assumed the Olympic and Paralympic teams fell under the same organisation.
That confusion had often led to criticism of the NZOC and its partners during Paralympic campaigns, with the public mistakenly believing the Olympic body was failing to support disabled athletes. A unified structure could reduce that friction and present a clearer message about how athletes were funded and supported.
Internationally, Olympic and Paralympic structures varied widely. Most countries maintained separate bodies, but several – including Team USA, one of the largest and most influential teams in world sport – operated under a single organisational umbrella.
A number of other nations were currently weighing similar options, although NZOC and PNZ noted that national context was always the deciding factor.
It is not yet known if any merger would result in job losses. The NZOC is the larger, more well-resourced of the two organisations, with more than 30 fulltime employees and an annual turnover of nearly $23 million, according to its 2024 annual report.
PNZ’s total revenue for 2024 was $5.4 million.
Should the two organisations elect to join forces, it was likely a formal merger would not take place until after the LA 2028 Olympic cycle because of existing broadcast and commercial arrangements.
Last month Sky announced a long-term partnership with the International Olympic Committee for the broadcast rights to the Olympic Games from next year’s Winter Olympics through to Brisbane 2032.
