Tauranga's Olympians are expected to be welcomed home in style with plans being made for parade next Friday.

Tauranga Yacht and Powerboat Club members claimed gold, silver, and bronze medals at the Rio Olympics.

Medal winners Luuka Jones, left, and Blair Tuke and Peter Burling. Photos: NZ Olympic Team Twitter.

Sailors Peter Burling and Blair Tuke took gold in the 49er skiff, while fellow Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club sailor Molly Meech won silver with Alex Maloney in the 49erFX.

Sam Meech claimed bronze in the Laser.

Also close to the medals was the Nacra 17 crew of Tauranga sailor Jason Saunders and Gemma Jones, who won their medal race, but didn't have the accrued points to clinch it.

Molly Meech, right, with her sailing partner Alex Maloney.

Other water sports medals to come to the Bay are Tauranga resident Luuka Jones' silver in the kayak slalom, along with Lisa Carrington's double of a gold in the K1 200 sprint and bronze in the K1 500m.

Mahe Drysdale won gold in the men's single skulls.

On land, Tauranga-based Kelly Brazier is a member of the silver medal winning Women's Sevens team, coached by Sean Horan also from Tauranga. Valerie Adams silver in the shot put.

That's nine out of 15 of the New Zealand Olympic medals won by athletes from the Bay.

A parade is currently being organised by Tauranga City council and yacht club officials, but will depend on the availability of the athletes.

If the parade goes ahead as planed, it is expected to start near 2nd Ave, with a drive down Devonport Road to a welcome on the Edgewater Fan at noon.

Lisa Carrington and Mahe Drysdale.

Which of the Olympians will be available on the day is not yet confirmed.

A decision is expected this Friday about whether or not the parade will go ahead on September 2.

Sport and Recreation Minister Jonathan Coleman says New Zealand's Olympic team should be incredibly proud of achieving the country's best ever results at an Olympic Games with a total of 18 medals.

'Our Olympians have secured New Zealand's best ever medal haul, and their achievements are a great reward for the hard work and training they've put into their sport,” says Jonathan.

'New Zealand is extremely proud of all of our Olympic team, particularly our gold medal winners - Mahé Drysdale, Hamish Bond and Eric Murray, Lisa Carrington, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.

'It's also great to see the emergence of some new sporting heroes such as Natalie Rooney, Luuka Jones and Eliza McCartney.”

Sam Meech with his medal.

New Zealand placed fourth out of 205 competing nations on a medals per-capita basis and secured podium finishes across nine different sports. It was New Zealand's largest ever Olympic team, with 199 athletes competing in 21 sports.

'These results show we have a high performance system which is delivering strong results, and New Zealand's sports people continue to achieve at the highest level,” says Jonathan.

'Our Olympians are an inspiration to New Zealanders, and their performance at Rio helps to encourage people to get out there and get active.”

In 2016/17 the Government will invest over $66 million in High Performance Sport NZ to provide a one stop shop for high performance athlete's needs. This includes an extra $16 million in Budget 2016 as preparation for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Jodie Bakewell-White from Yachting NZ says it's been 24 years since New Zealand won four sailing medal at an Olympics, and that was Barcelona in 1992.

New Zealand is one of only two nations to collect four medals here in Rio, the other being Australia. New Zealand has now won 22 Olympic sailing medals in total including nine gold, seven silver, and six bronze.

New Zealand was represented in seven Olympic sailing events in Rio, and all seven crews finished within the top ten of their fleet and sailed the medal race, says Jodie.

The average age of the New Zealand sailing team in Rio is just 25 years-old, and yet the team featured two three-time Olympians – Jo Aleh and Peter Burling.

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke took out the 49er event in style with a medal race win proving the fitting final flourish to an incredible four-year campaign.

Already secure for gold on points the men enjoyed every moment of that race and then realised their dream of going one better than 2012 to win an Olympic Gold medal.

'Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie captured everyone's attention when they came back fighting from 7th on the table, to get back into the medal hunt,” says Jodie.

'A solid tactical medal race performance was required to secure a podium finish, and they held their nerve to deliver what was required for the women's 470 Olympic Silver medal.

'Alex Maloney and Molly Meech shone in the spotlight placed on the women's skiff class which is one of two new events in the Olympic Games this year, and featured strong local hopes Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze. With four boats lying equal going into yesterday's medal race, the last on the schedule, the breeze turned up the dial and it was all on for a grand finale.

'It came down to the wire between the kiwis and the Brazilians, and the local crowd erupted on the beach when Grael and Kunze took the race by a mere two seconds.”

Nacra sailor Gemma Jones was the youngest sailor and the only female helm in her medal race sailed on Tuesday. She and Jason Saunders won the Nacra medal race and missed out on the podium by only three points.

On Tuesday Josh Junior closed his first Olympic Games appearance in 7th overall in the Finn fleet. Yesterday Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox sailed the Men's 470 Medal Race finishing 6th and closing the Rio Olympic Games in 10th overall.