New Heroes Emerged At Kingston

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31256, 31 December 1966, Page 15

New Heroes Emerged At Kingston

TEADING sports officials throughout the country are still wrangling over the method of selection for Commonwealth and Olympic Games teams and no doubt they have good grounds for their complaints. However, no-one could deny the success of the New Zealand team which finished fourth overall in the 1966 Jamaica Commonwealth Games. Only England, Australia and Canada scored higher than the New Zealand team, which returned home with a grand total of 26 medals—eight of them gold. This was a splendid performance for a country with a population of little more than two and a half million.

That this, in the opinion of many, was achieved in spite of the present selection system rather than because of it could hardly cast a shadow over the brilliance of many of those who made the trip. The team of 60, chosen from 82 nominations by the selectors (Messrs C. L. S. Cross, P. N. Robinson and the late C. R. Moore), was without doubt one of the most successful teams ever to leave this country. Only the team which contested the Perth Games four years previously won more medals. And it was the biggest team ever sent away. To say that the performance of the team exceeded all expectations would be an understatement. It lacked the big names of Tokyo and Perth—P. G. Snell, M. G. Halberg and even J. L. Davies were all missing and it was not strong in traditional New Zealand games events such as the mile and half-mile. However, it succeeded in winning medals in all but one of the nine sports represented—badminton.

Ten of the Dominion’s 26 medals were won in the athletics arena, an indication that the severe slashing of the track and field nominations was perhaps not justified; but other sports showed considerable depth of talent as well. The swimmers reached their highest standard in this type of international competition, winning six medals. Other medals were won by cycling (two), fencing (two), boxing (two), shooting (two), weight-lifting (one) and wrestling (one). One of the highlights of the games as far as New Zealand was concerned was the “golden double” by Mrs V. I. Young. She won the shot for the third time in succession and discus event for the second time in succession. Of only slightly lesser importance were the efforts of L. R. Mills, who won the discus and was second in the shot, an event he would probably have won had he not been handicapped by a muscle injury. The gold medal achievements of R. A. Williams in the decathlon and R. P. Welsh in the steeplechase were also outstanding. Then there was the emergence of M. Ryan as a

world class marathon runner. He finished third.

In the swimming section, the form of the butterfly exponent, D. F. Gerrard, caught the imagination of all followers of sport. He came from behind to win the gold medal in the 220 yards butterfly in 2min 12.7 sec—a personal best and a new New Zealand record. H. W. Graham was also outstanding, winning two silver medals in breaststroke events.

Other gold medals were won by the team captain, D. C. Oliver (heavy-weight weight lifting), and W. Kini (heavy-weight boxing). There were, of course, some disappointments; for example the dramatic loss of Mrs M. A. Stephen in the 880 yards and the inability of the swimmer, Miss V. J. Haddon, to reproduce in the final the brilliant form she showed in the heats of the 110 yards breaststroke event. Nevertheless, every member of the New Zealand team competed honourably in a wide variety of events. Performances generally suggested that they could give a good account of themselves in the still higher grade of competition at the Olympic Games.