OLYMPIC GAMES ATHLETES

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27989, 8 June 1956, Page 12

OLYMPIC GAMES ATHLETES

Twelve Nominations Made

miss v. SLOPER FIRST

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, June 7.

Twelve athletes—seven men and five women—have been selected as provisional nominations by the national selectors, Messrs H. L. Towers and J. W. Holley, for the New Zealand Olympic Games team. The nominations were approved at tonight’s meeting of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association, and they will eventually be forwarded to the New Zealand Olympic and British Empire Games Association, which will make the final decision on the number to be included in the games team. Though the selectors nominated the athletes in order of merit, they did not stipulate the individual events that each athlete would be entered for.

Rep'ying to a question whether the management; committee could examine the order, the chairman, Mr H. 1. Austad. said that he did not think it advisable. The selectors had been appointed and there did not appear to be any point in tampering with their choice.

The athletes nominated in order of merit are:—

1: Miss V. Sloper (Canterbury). 2: Miss M. Donaghy (Waikato). 3: Miss M. Stuart (Hawke's BayPoverty Bay). 4: M. Halberg (Auckland). 5: Miss B. Weigel (Auckland). 6: M. Rae (Auckland). 7: M. Jeffries (Auckland). 8: Miss J. Crotty (Waikato). 9: N. Scott (Auckland). 10: R. Williams (Auckland). 11: M. D. Richards (Otago).

12: A. W. Richards (Canterbury). Miss Valerie Sloper is a costing clerk and telephone receptionist for a Christchurch firm of slipper manu-

„ facturers. She is || 18 and has had a g rapid rise to athH letic fame. Under || the guidance of P Valdemars BreiI dis, a former E Dutch coach, Miss H Sloper has in two i years developed II from an average i club athlete into || a world class shot I putter. Judged ■ on last year’s world perform-

ances she is New Zealand’s best prospect of winning a medal at the Olympics. Miss Sloper received her early education at Rakaia and later at the Christchurch Technical College, where she was junior, intermediate, and senior athletic champion. In addition to putting the shot, Miss Sloper is a fine all-round athlete, having won the Canterbury pentathlon title for the last two seasons.

Miss Mary Donaghy, a 15-year-old schoolgirl, in March last year, set a New Zealand high jump record of sft 4£in. A leg injury interrupted her training this year, but she retained her title with sit 3in. Later she was reported to have jumped sft sin, some inches above her own height. On 1955 rankings, this jump would have placed her eighth equal among the world’s women high jumpers. Margaret Stuart has five times broken the New Zealand record for the 80 metres hurdles made by the Olympic Games champion, Shirley Strickland of Australia. Her best time of 11.2 sec would have ranked her eleventh equal in the world last year Earlier this year Miss Stuart had several wins over the two Australian athletes, Gwen Wallace and Gloria Cooke, who were brought to New Zealand by the Hastings Club to give Miss Stuart the opportunity of improving her chances of Olympic selection. Miss Stuart is also a first-class sprinter in the flat events with times of B.ssec for the 75 yards and llsec for the 100 yards.

Murray Halberg is the greatest distance runner that New Zealand has had. Except for the three-quarter

m ile record, which N. Scott captured from him earlier this year, Halberg holds all the national running records from 1000 yards to three miles, all in close to world times, and he still holds the national junior (under 19) mile record of 4min 17.2 sec made

in 1952. Halberg has already had experience of international competition, including his victory over prominent American milers in the Franklin Mile at Philadelphia in 1954. Cricket and Rugby were Halberg's first preferences as sports, but he took part in the usual range of athletic activities at secondary school. When 17, a Rugby injury to his left arm prevented him from competing in his favourite sports, and I

he turned his whole attention to athletics. He lectured on distance running at the recent national coaching school held at Wellington. Haiberg has arranged to go to Australia, where he will complete his training for the Olympics. He is a physical education specialist at an Auckland secondary school.

Miss Beverley Weigel, a pupil of Kelston High School, is only 15 years old. Next to Yvette Williams, she is the best woman long jumper New Zealand has had. Her best official jump is 19ft 2i?n. She has cleared 19ft 9in. Miss Weigel is also a firstclass sprinter and has run 100 yard.in 11.2 sec. Miss Weigel surprised New Zealand when in 1954, at the age of 13, she ran 100 yards in 11.5 sec and long jumped 17ft lOin. The holder of the national long jump title, Miss Weigel was also a finalist in the 75 yards and 100 yards at the championships. She is at present studying for school certificate and plans to become a physical education mistress. .

Morrie Rae holds the New Zealanu 100 yards resident record of 9.7 sec and with wind assistance has run 9.ssec. Rae took up athletics almost by chance. Formerly a champion gymnast with the Mount Albert Club, Auckland. Rae was called on to make up a relay team for the inter-second-ary school relays when his school. Avondale College, was short of 'a junior sprinter. Rae had wins over Hector Hogan (Australia) when Hogan, joint world record holder for the 100 yards, made a brief visit to Auckland two years ago. This season, Rae competed in the Australian championships and finished second to Hogan in both the 100 and 220 yards.

Murray Jeffries is a member of the New Zealand University athletic team competing in Australia. He repre-

sented New Zealand at the Vancouver Empire Games in 1954, when only 16 years of age. That year he set a junior national record of 6ft sin and was second in the senior title to Peter Wells, the British Olympic r e p r e s e ntative. Jeffries was second to Wells in

the senior championships again this year, and in the junior titles he successfully defended two of the four titles that he won last year. He set a new junior javelin throw record of 192 ft 6in. Jeffries, who attended the Otahuhu College (Auckland), has a best jump of 6ft 6.)in. Joy Crotty, of Hamilton, triple national women’s sprint champion, is the best woman sprinter New Zealand has had. She has held the national 75 yards championship for three years, and the 100 and 220 yards for two years. Earlier this year Miss Crotty’s coach, Jim Bellwood, arranged a two weeks’ visit to Melbourne for her so she could compete against stronger opposition and gain experience on cinder tracks. In a 100 yards handicap race Miss Crotty was officially timed at 10.5 sec. Converted to the equivalent time for the 100 metres, this would have placed her in the first six in the world last year. Her best winning scratch time this season, however, is llsec.

Neville Scott, holder of the national threequarter-mile record in 2min 56.65ec, took up athletics only three years ago after transferring from Canterbury to Waikato. Scott received his secondary education at the Ashburton Technical High School. A tall, rangy youth, 21 years of age, Scott is only slightly overshadowed by his more illustrious rival, Halberg. His best mile time of 4min 2.ssec would have given him ninth place in world rankings last year immediately behind Halberg. Scott had ribs broken in an accident last month. He is coached by Jim Bellwood, who supervised the training of Olympic winner Yvette Williams’ Roy Williams is a brother of the Olympic long jump champion, Yvette Williams, now Mrs Corlett. With consistent performances Williams won the Auckland .pentathlon with 6031 points and the national title with 6036, both substantially better than anything done in this country before. He is the holder of the New Zealand discus throwing championship also.

Mervyn Richards, five times New Zealand pole vault champion, devotes considerable time to coaching also. He

was an instructor at the coaching school held in Christchurch bv the Toe H Club »n 1954. The Otago distance runner, P. N. Sidon, and Miss W. Garrod (Timaru), the New Zealand javelin record holder, have been helped in their training by Richards. Richards holds the New Zea-

land pole vault record of 13ft tin. He represented New Zealand at the last Empire Games.

A. (Bill) Richards may be considered a comparative youngster He started running with the Technical

Harrier Club in 1948, when 23. His development has been slow, but he has steadily built up his training mileages to withstand the gruelling 26 miles 385 yards marathon race, till now he runs more than 5000 miles a year. A clicker Richards holds the two fastest marathon times don j in

New Zealand. In his first marathon race, at the Canterbury championships last year he ran the’distance in 2hr 31min 28sec to beat the previous best time set by the then world’s best, England’s Jack Holden, who won this event at the Auckland Empire Games. Richards has taken temporary employment in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens so that he will have an openair job more suited to his final preparations for the Olympics.