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Story: Olympic and Commonwealth games

Paul MacDonald and Ian Ferguson, Los Angeles, 1984

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Paul MacDonald and Ian Ferguson, Los Angeles, 1984

Paul MacDonald (left) and Ian Ferguson (right) won the K2 500-metre flatwater canoeing event at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. The highly respected Soviet and East German canoeists did not compete due to an Eastern Bloc boycott of the games. However, the Kiwis had already proved themselves against these opponents in earlier European competitions. MacDonald and Ferguson won gold again in the K2 500 metres at the Seoul Olympics in 1988.

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Reference: PS0051310-FERGUSON & MACDONALD

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Joseph Romanos, Olympic and Commonwealth games – On the water – the 1980s at the Olympics, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/37907/paul-macdonald-and-ian-ferguson-los-angeles-1984 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Joseph Romanos, published 14 November 2012, updated 1 June 2023.