GAMES SELECTION Pressing For New System

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31237, 8 December 1966, Page 26

GAMES SELECTION Pressing For New System

The Amateur Swimming Association’s opinion on the selection system for Olympic and Commonwealth Games had not altered in spite of it receiving “fairly good treatment” over its nominations for Kingston, said the chairman of the association’s council (Mr A. J. Donaldson).

Speaking at a meeting of the council, Mr Donaldson said that in the absence of any better scheme, the swimming association would continue to press for individual sports making their own choice. The national president (Mr R. M. Webb, of Rotorua) said that other associations appeared to be changing their tunes on the selection system, perhaps because their nominations were not succeeding to the same degree as in the past. The selection of Games representatives by the individual sports did not mean that standards within those sports would be slackened for the sake of gaining greater representation, said Mr Webb. The choice of a sub-standard competitor would reflect badly on the selectors and the particular sport. “If all associations followed the pattern of the swimming selectors, fewer people would go to the games and fail,” he said. “Our team (of swimmers) did remarkably well because it was well selected.”

Proper preparation and build-up probably made a vital contribution to the success of the swimming team, said the deputy-chairman (Mr G. S. B. Brockett). A pattern of brightening up the preparations of competitiors could

make the selections of the individual sports bodies more certain.

Mr Donaldson made pointed comment on the rejection of the national men's freestyle champion and record-holder, R. D. Walker, from the team for Jamaica this year. Walker, he said, would have benefitted tremendously through participation in the training school for the games squad and New Zealand’s lagging freestyle standards would have been revived. This contention had been borne out by the performances in freestyle by P. J. O’Carroll, said Mr Donaldson. Although he was a backstroke specialist, O’Carroll had benefitted from the training school to such an extent that he was able to break the national sprint freestyle record in training.