New Zealanders Did Well Against Cream Of World’s Athletes

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26848, 12 August 1948, Page 5

New Zealanders Did Well Against Cream Of World’s Athletes

From A. W. Mitchell, N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent

Rec. 9 p.m.

LONDON, Aug. 11.

“We haven’t done too well” some New Zealanders have said to me as one by one our representatives in the Olympic Games have failed to gain a prominent place and our remaining hopes for distinction rest on T. R. Carter, the cyclist. Rightly or wrongly, but I think rightly, I have disagreed with this remark. I think that on the whole the New Zealand Olympic team has done well, taking into account a certain amount of bad luck and the fact that for the first time they have been competing against the cream of all the nations.

When I say bad luck, it is not in any way to offer an excuse. The spiking of D. M. Harris was sheer bad luck plus clumsiness on the part of the Dane, an ungainly runner, who injured him. Colds and pulled muscles surely come into this category, too, and how they can be avoided other than by inoculation or crossing the fingers I do not know. Added to this was the inexperience of taking part in international events, usually in front of huge crowds. How this is to be overcome other than by gaining such experience I do not know, either. With one exception I would say that all our Olympic team was affected by nerves. But they have not had that on their own for it has applied to the competitors of all nations and has apparently reduced some of the more volatile peoples to tears. The exception I would make is Harris who, to my mind, has the ideal temperament for big events. He is so interested in running as running and in times and performances that one event is just like any other to him and one crowd is either bigger or smaller than the other.

In the case of the others, nerves robbed them of their best. The occasion was almost too much for Miss Ngaire Lane, for instance, and before her first race she was so jumpy that she was not sure what to do with herself during the last half-hour. Nevertheless, she swam two plucky races. M. Crow, the weight-lifter, was also nervous but he shook it off as the afternoon passed and his last lifts were models of self-assurance. R. H. Goslin, the boxer, was nervous and worried about his condition. It was most unfortunate for him that he could not make the weight as a bantam but had to fight as a featherweight against an American who was almost head and shoulders taller.

W. H. Nelson was also mentally preoccupied with the condition of his previously pulled muscles, and in the case of J. M. Holland, nerves and the effect of a heavy cold also taxed his stamina.

In spite of these drawbacks all the New Zealanders did all that could be expected of them and they will return to New Zealand, I feel, an 'improved team.