Graham Swim His Greatest

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31134, 10 August 1966, Page 18

Graham Swim His Greatest

(Special Crspdt N2P A > KINGSTON. The 21-year-old Auckland law student, H. A. Graham, put up his greatest swimming performance to win the silver medal in the men’s 220 yards breaststroke. Graham recorded his best time for the event, 2min 36.95ec, finishing second to l.| O’Brien, of Australia, who was also the gold medal winner I at Perth in 1962. In the heats, O’Brien had n| reduced the world record byi 2.6 sec, to bring it down to| |B 2min 28sec. and while he did not break this mark, his 2minl 29.35ec was again inside the:

ratified world record set by' E. Henninger, of Germany, h Graham had a great battle if with W. Mahoney, of Canada, t for the silver medal, but in the final 55 yards the New f Zealander applied the pres- I sure and finished five yards I ahead of Mahoney. t The other New Zealander in 1 the final, A. Seagar, was * fourth, with a time of 2min i 416 sec, 2.7 sec behind : Mahoney. , Graham's medal is only the t second New Zealand has won v in the men's 220 breastroke. ■ c '.The other was J. Dorn’s sen-h isational gold medal win in i Vancouver in 1954 when he t h upset all predictions to eome « i home ahead of the field in ■2m!n 52.65ec. i ' Graham said that the race f was one of the “easiest” in r i which he had competed. i A

“1 felt really good all the way,” he said. “I was hoping for a good race and just hit my peak at the right time.” Earlier this week, after the final time trials, the New Zealand swimming coach, Mr M. A. Doidge, had been seriously worried about Graham, who recorded one of his slowest ever marks for the distance, 2min 44sec. Gerrard 3rd Fastest New Zealand’s fortunes in the other swimming events were mixed. D. F. Gerrard did a fine qualifying time in the 220 yards butterfly. 2min 15.3 sec and qualified with the third fastest time among the eight finalists. Seagar. in the 440 yards individual men's medley final, finished fourth, but was never really in the running for a medal.

The winner, the 19-year-old P. Reynolds (Australia), was | in devastating form and set a world record of 4min 50.8 sec. I to break a mark of 4min 51sec in 1962 by- the American, E. Stickles. In the 220 yards women’s butterfly heats. Miss H. Kerr had the fourth fastest time of 2min 39.35ec. I New-Zealand’s women’s 440 ■ yards medley relay team of i Misses M. M. Macrae. V. J. Haddon, Kerr and T. K. Shipston, also had to contend with a world record performance. The English quartet covered the distance in 4min 40.6 sec, I.2sec inside the old mark held by the Netherlands. Canada was second and Australia third. The New Zealanders, with a time of 4min 57.75ec, were fifth, behind Scotland.