FUN AND GAMES ... CANADIAN COIN CAMPAIGN

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33434, 16 January 1974, Page 3

FUN AND GAMES ... CANADIAN COIN CAMPAIGN

(From staff reporters and N.Z.P.A

The organisers of the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal hope to finance the greater part of the festival from sales of commemorative coins. The Canadian Government iis producing a series of seven sets, each of four coins, at six-month intervals until the beginning of the Games. Each set will contain two $5 and two $lO coins.

The $5 coins and one of the $lO coins in the first set are shown in the photograph, held by Mr R. Walton, the swimming manager of the Canadian team.

Under Canadian law,, a percentage of the coins had to be sold at face value, said Mr Walton. “As you can imagine, there was quite a scramble for those first few.”

However, the organising committee hopes to sell the remaining coins at more than a 100 per cent profit. Coins worth $3O will cost $72.50. The organising committee is also running lotteries with a first prize of sCanlm. Tickets cost $lO, and there are several minor prizes. Many people were sceptical of such a lottery, said Mr Walton, but the tickets sold in half the time provided, so another was run.

Birthday cake I The Games recreation committee, based at the Ham village, is likely to have a busy time once it knows the !birthdays of all the Games • competitors. It hopes to mark leach birthday in some way, land last evening it sent a I birthday cake to the Scottish ■ team’s quarters, where the twenty-fifth birthday of the ,5000 m champion, I. Stewart, I was being celebrated. P.M. in team There is little doubt as to which team will have the highest-powered political turn-out. Western Samoa, making its first appearance at a Commonwealth Games, will be able to boast of both a Prime Minister and a member of Parliament in its 40man team. The Prime Minister (Mr Mataama) is the reserve for bowls, and Mr L. Pita, a member of the island’s Parliament, is a section manager. Note of urgency The Games village newspaper yesterday morning, ] under the heading, “Urgent,”] had the following message: “It is most important that Village members make a point of reading the urgent notices. There are no urgent messages today.”

Dead-heats Swimmers at the Games iwho were dead-heated after I times had been taken to oneI hundredth of a second would be declared joint medal winner?. Mr Donaldson said last ] evening. Athletes on grass The Chevron 440 track at Queen Elizabeth II Park does ! not suit all the athletes. At least this is the inference that can be drawn from training yesterday. Some of the athletes spurned the track and trained on the grass centre. Mr Scott said: “It is a complete waste of time if people have training time at the park and then run on the grass. There is plenty of that outside, or at the village.” Long journey If there were a prize for the competitor who travelled the greatest distance to compete. the Scottish swimmer.! D. Wilkie, would be one of the finalists—if not the win-] ner by a wide margin. Wilkie, the holder of the world record; for the 200 metres breaststroke, will be one of the last to arrive. From Florida, where he is studying at the University of Miami, he will fly to London, make a quick trip to Aberdeen to see his family, return to London, and fly to New Zealand.

Plumbing problem Minor maintenance matters are keeping tradesmen busy lat the Games village, but the most interesting mishap reported yesterday occurred in the rooms of the Jersey team. The story cannot be officially confirmed, but it is rumoured that when a shower was turned on water spurted from a cupboard in an adjoining room. Cyclists crash The state of the Games cycling track had nothing to do with the crashes of six Welsh riders. Mr Scott said last evening. “They had sole use of the track, and they blame themselves for their crashes, which did not lead to serious injury or damage to the machines,” he said. "I understand one of them ran into the back of the motor-cycle of the team coach, who was I riding ahead.” Australian rivalry An Australian confrontation is shaping up. A delegation from Campbelltown, a satellite city near Sydney, is coming to Christchurch with a view to obtaining the 1982 Commonwealth Games. This news has come as a surprise to Brisbane, which has indicated that it will make an application for the Games.