New Zealand kayaker Lisa Carrington with her Gold Medal, after winning Gold in the Final of the Kayak Single K1 200m Women Canoe Sprint, held at Eton Dorney. NZ Herald photograph by Brett Phibbs
New Zealand kayaker Lisa Carrington with her Gold Medal, after winning Gold in the Final of the Kayak Single K1 200m Women Canoe Sprint, held at Eton Dorney. NZ Herald photograph by Brett Phibbs
As the curtain comes down on New Zealand's record-equalling medal haul at the London Olympics the pundits at The Wall Street Journal will be grinning.
In their pre-Games predictions the Journal picked New Zealand to win five golds and 13 medals in total - equalling the previous recordhaul the Kiwis achieved in Seoul in 1988 - and they nailed it.
Using the sort of forensic analysis usually reserved for human genome therapy, Sports Illustrated, Sport NZ, the Associated Press, USA Today and Goldman Sachs all had a crack at the Olympic predictions game - but none could match the mystic powers of the Journal.
The Kiwis easily surpassed their nine medal haul from Beijing in 2008 and won an impressive eight more medals than the the five picked up in Athens in 2004.
But they couldn't quite match the gold-rush from Los Angeles in 1984 when New Zealand won an incredible eight gold medals.
With just one more night of competition ahead - but no Kiwis participating - New Zealand currently sits in 15th place on the world medal tally, one spot above Jamaica and two below Kazakhstan.
New Zealand medal count Five gold Three silver Five bronze
Sports Illustrated -New Zealand to win 16 medals - five of them gold Sport New Zealand -New Zealand will win ten or more medals Associated Press -New Zealand will win 14 medals The Wall Street Journal - New Zealand will win five golds and 13 medals in total USA Today - New Zealand will win 17 medals including five golds Goldman Sachs - New Zealand will win three golds and 11 medals in total. Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth college - New Zealand will win seven medals and no more than three of those will be gold.
