Magic 45 minutes

The magic 45 minutes describes the duration of one of the most rewarding sporting periods in the history of New Zealand during which four New Zealand rowing teams won gold medals in four successive finals to be the most successful country at the 2005 World Rowing Championships in Gifu, Japan.

It was the first time any country had won four golds at any world championships since the former East Germany in 1987, an achievement which prompted New Zealand's largest newspaper, The New Zealand Herald, to scream "FOARSOME" in a banner headline. New Zealand has a population creeping just over 4,000,000 - roughly a fifth of the population of Metropolitan New York - but is internationally recognised as regularly punching well above its weight in international sporting competition.

New Zealand has previously won four Olympic golds in a single sport (canoeing) at a single games but that was over two days on Lake Casitas at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. The previous shortest time between winning gold medals was less than an hour when the great Peter Snell (800 m) and Murray Halberg (5000 m) triumphed at the Rome Olympics in 1960.

On this magic 45 minutes occasion, New Zealand had five teams in the rowing finals, an achievement that astonished the international rowing fraternity at Giva. New Zealanders at home in New Zealand were hoping that maybe two gold medals would be achievable. But in only 45 minutes, the New Zealanders won four golds and the New Zealand flag proudly flew four times as the national anthem was played four times in succession.

...
Wikipedia