North Shore Times (New Zealand)
Where Olympians went to school
From Kerikeri down to Invercargill, 117 different high schools played a part in producing the 202 athletes who represented their country at the Rio Olympics.
They include 84 in the North Island and 33 in the South Island; 87 state schools, 17 state integrated schools, and 13 private schools; 24 boys schools, 24 girls schools, and 69 co-ed schools.
Sixty-two schools can each claim a single Rio Olympian, while 34 have two, and 12 have three
The smallest school to play a part was Solway College in Masterton, home to just 137 students, and at one time, dressage rider Julie Brougham.
The largest is Rangitoto College, which helped produce sailors Alex Maloney,
Daniel Willcox and Gemma Jones, and cyclist Georgia Williams, and has more than 3000 students.
With five Olympians this year, Westlake Boys High School was the North Shore school with the most former students in Rio.
Across the country there were five students from three Diocesan schools; 17 from nine schools with Saint in their name; and 18 from ‘‘Grammar Schools’’. There were 29 from ’’Boys’ High Schools,’’ and 19 from ‘‘Girls’ High Schools’’.
Where New Zealand Olympians went to school lines up neatly with where New Zealanders live, give or take a few percentage points here and there.
The biggest outlier appears to be the Bay of Plenty.
That was where 8.67 per cent of New Zealand’s Olympians were schooled, including Lisa Carrington, but it is home to just 6.25 per cent of the nation’s population.
Proving that it doesn’t matter where you start out - people have come from all over New Zealand and made it to Rio, and so it should be again in the years to come.
Shore schools attended by 2016 Olympians:
Glenfield College - Tracey Lambrechs. Kristin School - Lauren Boyle and Petrea Webster. Pinehurst School - Lydia Ko.
Rangitoto College - Alex Maloney, Daniel Willcox, Gemma Jones, and Georgia Williams.
Takapuna Grammar School - Paul SnowHansen, Jacko Gill and Eliza McCartney.
Westlake Boys High School - Misha Koudinov, Michael Brake, James Coughlan, Nick Wilson and Glenn Snyders.
Westlake Girls High School - Kayla McAlister, Jo Aleh and Erin Nayler.