SWIMMING CHAMPIONS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 79, 30 September 1924, Page 9

SWIMMING CHAMPIONS

MISS SHAND'S EXPERIENCES. New Zealand's champion lady swim|mer, : Miss Gwitha Shand, o£ Christchurch, was one ,of the happiest members of the party of Australian and New Zealand representatives, who returned from the Olympic Games yesterday. She had had a wonderful time, and she was pleased to be home again, but from her remarks to a "Post reporter it was plain that she had some feelings of disappointment. Theso wore due to her failure to gain for New Zealand a place m the ladies' swimming finals at the Olympic Games. Everyone knows, however, that Miss Shand did her best for tha country "she was representing, and, although she did not win at the Games, she was a representative of whom New Zoalanders were proud. It was her first Visit to tho Games, and it -was most unfortunate that on the day of the race in which her true form would have undoubtedly gained for her a place, she developed a severe cold. But that was not all. "Everything was wrong," she remarked. "Probably the climate had something to do with it, and perhaps the different -water had an effect. I'm satisfied, too, that New Zealand will never do well at the Games unless the team has a trainer. Purdio, Herd, and I all found it the same. Without someone to understand tho requirements of members of a team in preparing for bis events, it is simply a caso of repeating the initial faults that one may make. The Americans havo their trainers, and that is whore they score. So, you can realise how hard it is to compote under1 t-hoso conditions. I was far from satisfied with my own performances. I did not strike form in Paris, but I met with better success in Dublin, and, although tho times were slow, they were equal to good times in other waters." Miss Shand displayed a handsome gold medal, valued at £15, presented at the Tailteann Games for meritorious performance. " She had also won other medals.

. Referring to the brilliance of the performances by the American lady swimmers, Miss Shand said that she was confident that she could have gained a placo in the finals at the Olympic Games if she had been swimming to form. Misses Morelious, Wehselau, and Leckio were simply marvellous. Of her experiences othor than in the water, Miss Shand said that she had enjoyed the whole trip immensely. "After giving an exhibition in Brussels we flew across to London," she added. "It was thrilling, but.l don't know whether I would care to have that experience again." Finally she spoke in high praise of the manner in which Mr. 0. G. H. Merrett, the Australian team's manager, and Miss Gunther, who travelled with her throughout the tour, had studied her welfare. They were both most kind to her. Among those at the wharf to meet Miss Shand yosterdav were her mother and her sister.