N.Z. OLYMPIC TEAMS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20509, 29 August 1936, Page 16

N.Z. OLYMPIC TEAMS

COMPETITION SINCE 1908 New Zealand’s Olympic team, which recently competed in Berlin, was the seventh New Zealand has sent to the Olympic Games. The Dominion was first represented at London in 1908. Since then teams have been sent to Stockholm, Antwerp, Paris, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, and Berlin, but so for only one Olympic title has been won, states a Christchurch exchange. The one Olympic victor was E. Morgan, who in 1928 at Amsterdam won the welter-weight boxing championship of the World. Other New Zealanders have reached the finals, but only a few have been placed. The long journeys the teams have been obliged to make and the change of climate have been two big factors against their success, and until quicker means of travel or longer periods of preparation in the northern hemis- , phere can be obtained the Dominion is not likely to do itself justice. In all 41 persons have represented New Zealand at the Olympic Games, and placings in the finals have been:— 1912 M. E. Champion, member of Australasian team which won the 800 metres swimming relay. 1920: H. E. Wilson fourth, 110 metres hurdles; G. Davidson, fifth 200 metres; Miss V. Waldon, fifth, 100 metres swimming. 1924: A. E. Porritt, third, 100 metres. 1928: E. Morgan, won welter-weight championship. 1932: J. W. Savidan, fourth 5000 and 10.000 metres; pair-oar crew, C. A. Stiles and F. H. Thompson, second to Great Britain; four-oar crew, N. F. Pope, S. W. Cox, C. E. Saunders, J. D. Solomon, and D. E. Gullery (cox) fourth. Trials of Journey The boxers and also the oarsmen who went to the 1932 games have fared more successfully than the athletes and swimmers. It was generally agreed after the performances at Los Angeles that New Zealand was capable of holding its own in international rowing. In boxing, althletics, and swimming, teams going direct from New Zealand have suffered severely through the trials of the journey. Every manager or coach of a New Zealand team going overseas has emphasised the necessity not only for giving the competitors time to acclimatise, but opportunities to compete in-first-class company before the games begin. In former years New Zealanders have competed with frequent success in other international sports meetings after the games. In several of these cases success at the games was prejudiced because of inexperience. Athletes and swimmers have suffered most through the journey and change of climate. They are so finely trained that their condition is easily upset. Every time a team is selected there is complaint about the time given for training, but it appears that until quicker methods of travel or more money can be found the handicap must continue. New Zealand Teams In 1908 and 1912 New Zealanders

competed as members of an Australasian team. The Dominion was first recognised as a separate nation for the purposes of competition at Antwerp in 1920 The list of representatives in each year is as follows: 1908, at London: H. E. Kerr (Wellington) and H. St. A. Murray (Canterbury) athletics. 1912, at Stockholm: G. N. Hill (Auckland) athletics and M. E. Champion (Auckland) swimming. 1920, at Antwerp: G. Davidson (Auckland) athletics, H. D. Hadfield (Auckland) athletics, H. E. Wilson (Wellington) athletics. Miss V. Waldron (Auckland) swimming. 1924, at Paris: A. E. Porritt (Wanganui) athletics. G. Purdie (Auckland) boxing, Miss G. Shand (Canterbury) swimming. 1928, at Amsterdam: S. A. Lay (Hawera) athletics, W. J. Kalaugher (New Zealand Rhodes Scholar in England) athletics. Miss N. Wilson (Gisborne) athletics, E. Morgan (Wellington) boxing, A. J. Cleverley (Wellington) boxing. D. P. Lindsay (Christchurch) swimming, L. Moorhouse (Canterbury) swimming, Miss E. Stockley (Auckland) swimming, and Miss K. Miller (Dunedin) swimming. 1932, at Los Angeles: S. A. Black (New Plymouth) athletics, A. J. Elliott (Auckland) athletics, C. V. Evans (Taihape) athletics, J. E. Lovelock (Dunedin) athletics, J. W. Savidan (Auckland) athletics, Miss T. Kench (Wellington) athletics, A. S. Lowe (Dunedin) boxing, R. Purdie (Auckland) boxing, H. F. Thomas (Wellington), boxing G. C. Cooke (Wellington), S. W. Cox. C. A. Stiles, F. H. Thomp-

son (Christchurch), L. Jackson, J. MacDonald, and C. E. Saunders (Marlborough), N. F. Pope, B. M. Sandos (Hamilton), J. D. Solomon

(Port Chalmers), and D. E. Gullery (cox., Wanganui), rowing crews: R. G. Foubister (Auckland) cyclist.

1936, at Berlin: J. E. Lovelock (Dunedin) athletics, C. H. Matthews (Christchurch) athletics, V. P. Boot (Christchurch) athletics, G. R. Giles (Christchurch), cycling, T. Arbuthnot (Wellington), M. Gordon (Patea), and N. Fisher (Christchurch) boxing.