N.Z. swimmers aware of task

Press, 13 September 1988, Page 18

N.Z. swimmers aware of task

NZPA Wellington New Zealand’s Olympic swimming team are well aware that getting into the medals at Seoul will be no easier than it has at any preceding Games — and probably harder. Jean Stewart is the only New Zealand swimmer to win a medal at a full Olympics, finishing third in the 100 metres backstroke final at the 1952 Helsinski games. That bronze is regarded as more valuable than the gold medal Kiwi Malcolm Champion won as part of Australasia’s 4x200m freestyle relay

team at the 1912 Stockholm Games. The seven swimmers going to Seoul know full well the merit of Stewart’s bronze medal-winning performance in perhaps the one Olympic sport, given the numbers in domestic competition. New Zealand has failed to make an impact in. "That’s in the back of all of our minds,” said the aspiring backstroker, Paul Kingsman, of Auckland. “That we could become the first New Zealand swimmer to claim better than bronze at an Olympics. “It’s probably our foremost

motivation, but we are well aware of what will be required to match or better her feat. “For all of us, it comes down to concentrating on the perfect swim — something we all have yet to achieve.” Kingsman ’ is perhaps keenest to achieve as Stewart did, given that he has taken over from Stewart’s son, Gary Hurring, as the country’s leading male exponent of the stroke. Hurring, a 100 m silver medallist at the 1978 world championships, freestylist Rebecca Perrott, a fraction of a

second away from bronze in the 100 metres at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, and Kingsman’s Seoul team-mate, Anthony Mosse, edged out of a medal in the 200 metres butterfly at Los Angeles, have been New Zealand’s leading lights in the pool over the last 12 years. Kingsman, aged 21, clipped 1 0.2 seconds off Hurring’s national 200 m record of 2:03.1 in claiming a silver medal at the 1986 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games. He also won silver in the 100 metres, and has swum within a fifth of a second of Hurring’s 100 m record of 56.95.

It will be over the longer distance he concentrates his efforts in Seoul. His lead-up form has been encouraging, and he believes he, along with several other members of the New Zealand team, will be posting career-best times in Seoul. “I’m really happy with the buildup I’ve had,” Kingsman, who broke the New Zealand 200 m short-course record on August 27 —- the same day he was awarded an A.G.C. Young Achievers’ award, said. “My training and performances in competition have so far been very promisine.”