Tait kept his word

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33448, 1 February 1974, Page 1

Tait kept his word

It took him 12 years, but Robin Tait has kept his word. On departure for the 1962 Games at Perth, Tait said he would win a gold medal in the discus. Yesterday at Queen Elizabeth II Park he put it out 63.08 metres for an easy victory and a Games record.

Tait made his win look much more simple than it was expected to be. He set his record with his third throw and showed supreme confidence by passing the final three rounds.

with Bob McDonald and Phil Skoglund. One of the outstanding New Zealand Games efforts came in the marathon, in which Jack Foster finished a highly creditable second to lan Thompson of England. Thousands lined the route for this gruelling race. Lifting medals But it was in weight-lift-ing that New Zealand scored most spectacularly yesterday. In the heavy-weight division, John Bolton won the silver medal, John Barrett the bronze. And when Graham May triumphed in the super heavy-weight section, he brought New Zealand its tenth gold of the Games, thus equalling the number of firsts won at Auckland in 1950 and at Perth. New Zealand’s medal count for the day rose to nine with two third placings in the cycling at Denton Park. Blair Stockwell, Paul Brydon, Russell Nant and Rene Heyde won bronze medals in the 4000 m team pursuit, and in the tandem pairs, Paul Medhurst and Phil Harland were also placed third. New Zealand had three competitors in the heats of the women’s 1500 metres — Anne Garrett, Sylvia Potts and Sue Haden. AH three qualified for Saturday’s final. There was a magnificent run in this event from Glenda Reiser, of Canada, who broke the Games record by eight seconds. And there was a special cheer for little Rosetyne Mamotte, of Mauritius, who finished 55 seconds behind the winner of her heat, but who was encouraged all the way up the straight. Men’s 1500

He won the second of New Zealand’s gold medals yesterday. At Woolston, Gordon Jolly and his team, Kerry Clark, Jack Somerville and Dave Baldwin won the bowls fours to round off a strong run of successes in the last few days. There was a bronze for New Zealand in the bowls too,

There was particular interest, too. in the men’s 1500 metres heats. Rod Dixon of New Zealand qualified in the first heat, and in the second, the brilliant Tanzanian, Filbert Bayi. ran a spectacular 3:38.2.

Tony Polhill (New Zealand) qualified fourth in this heat, and team colleague John Walker won the third heat well. In this race Ben Jipcho, of Kenya, already the winner of two golds in Christchurch, came home fourth. He was in danger, briefly, of not qualifying, but the Canadian Kenneth Elmer fell away in the final straight. (Derek Ibbotson’s

comment, back page)