OLYMPIC GAMES N.Z. Team Assembles In Christchurch

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28129, 19 November 1956, Page 18

OLYMPIC GAMES N.Z. Team Assembles In Christchurch

Two schoolboy autograph hunters waiting outside the hotel at which the New Zealand Olympic team was assembling yesterday were the only indications that the largest team ever chosen to represent New Zealand at an Olympic Games was gathering in Christchurch. Further evidence of the remarkable lack of interest in the team was that little more than a passing mention was made of the fact that Canterbury’s three Olympic athletes were having their final competition at the Canterbury Centre’s inter-club meeting at Rugby Park on Saturday. Many considered this would have been an ideal time for athletes and officials to offer good wishes to Miss Valerie Sloper. Peter Wells and Bill Richards. During the events, brief mention was made that Miss Sloper and Richards were having their final appearances before leaving for the Games but the matter ended there. The North Island members arrived by the inter-island steanfer express yesterday morning and the South Island members met at the hotel a little later when uniforms were issued to the 23 South Island members—the rest of the team were outfitted in Wellington—final instructions were given, and luggage checked at the airways office. The distribution of personal gear took a surprisingly short time for it had all been packed into individual overnight bags. N.Z. Smartest Team Mr H. I. Austad, chairman of the Olympic Games Council, said the team would be the smartest and best equipped to have represented New Zealand at an Empire Games or

Olympics; and this certainly appeared to be the case. The girls were thoroughly pleased with their grey, slim-fitting, belted frocks with the white sharkskin collar forming a V neck and the bodice trimmed with small white buttons. The girls were issued with single-breasted black New Zealand blazers, but the men were given a neat-fitting doublebreasted jacket with silver buttons bearing a raised silver fern. In addition, the girls were supplied with white pull-on felt hats, grey berets, red handbags, white gloves, and a pair of stockings each. As well as blazers for walking out dress, the men will wear white panama hats, white shirts with black ties bearing small silver ferns, and grey flannels. The track suits issued are far superior to those given the 1954 Empire Games team. The fleecy-line jackets carry the traditional silver fern and “New Zealand’’ is emblazoned across the back. Training Main Thought Training was the main thought for most of the team and all the morning the preliminaries were regarded by many of the team as essential but tedious delays. As soon as the medical check was completed the Auckland heavy-weight wrestling giant took his 18 stone for a jog round Hagley Park to loosen up. Miss Margaret Stuart, Maurice Rae, and Neville Scott went training with Miss Valerie Sloper at the Ensor’s road ground. *Not content with a 20-mile training run and a two miles on the track at Rugby Park on Saturday, Bill Richards had another work-out at Rugby Park. All the cycling team except A. Larkins had a strenuous two-hour training period at English Park, several swimmers went to the Centennial Pool, and two boxers, P. Donovan and D. Griffin, had work-outs. Team Talk A lengthy team talk, in private, occupied most of the afternoon. At this members of the team received their final briefing and were issued with an identity card bearing their photograph, which will admit them free to all the Olympic functions in Melbourne. Some of the team, including Misses Jean Stewart and Marrion Roe, trained again in the evening, but most relaxed in the hotel, or went for a quiet stroll around the streets. The only strict instructions Mr L. W. Woods, the team manager, issued were that all should be in bed by 9 p.m. The main body of the team will leave Harewood at 10 o’clock this morning, and the cyclists and J. Silva will leave at 2.30 a.m. tomorrow. In addition to Mr Woods, six of the 19 members of the Olympic Games Council will accompany the team at their own expense. They are the chairman, Mr H. I. Austad, Messrs J. L. Squire, G. Craig (secretary). E. N. Robinson, S. S. Dan, and J. Meltzer. Another member, Mr Lance Cross, will attend the Games for the National Broadcasting Service