WHO SHALL GO?

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17246, 12 January 1924, Page 1

WHO SHALL GO?

OLYMPIC GAMES. SOME CLAIMS CONSIDERED Who is to represent New Zealand at the Olympic Games ? That is a question which, as the time for the games draws nearer, is being discussed with increasing interest. So far. only three athletes have been mentioned as likely to receive nomination—two swimmers and a boxer. They are:— Miss Gwitha Shand, Christchurch, swimmer. £■ C. Herd. Christchurch, swimmer. Charles Purdy. Auckland, boxer. There arc others on whom selection may fall, but. in view of the fact that practically nothing has yet been done in the way of gathering funds, their chances must be regarded as slight . The three athletes mentioned all possess the right to be regarded as right at the top of their respe<tivo ladders, and capable of putting up a great fight for the tonour of New Zealand, if given the opportunity. WONDERFUL MISS SHAND. If through lack of finance or other cause, it should be necessary to confine the selection of the Dominion’s representatives to one competitor, the choice would probably fall on Miss Gwitha Shand Of all the Dominion’s athletes Miss Shand appears to stand pre-emi-nent. Over her favourite distance of 440 yards (the Olympic distance is 400 metres or 43*3 yards*, she has defeated all comers, not merely in New Zealand but in Australia and Hawaii Indeed. she has never yet been beaten over this distance. In 1922 she narrowly missed securing the world's record for the distance. An American anticipated her and reduced the figure. But Miss Shand was not done with. Slowly but surely her times have come down. Recently in Auckland, in a race in which she was not called upon to put up a, serious battle, she covered 220 yards in 2min 4 7sec, time that, was less than a second outside the world’s record. Although not a sprinter, she has covered 100 yards in 66 2-6 sec. She is a wonderful finisher, and lias never yet failed to stall off a challenge over the latter stages of a journey. Her performances make an imposing list. They are os follow . 1917. BOyds schoolgirl*’ race (YaJdhurat Shield), first. 47sec. 1918 KOyds schoolgirls' championship of Canterbury, first. 41 3-seec. 26yds jx-boclgrirlF' ‘'hampionehip of Canterbury. first. 17 3-ss*c. 75yds schoolgirls' championship of Canterbury. first. S9=ec 100yds schoolgirls' championship of Canterbury. first, lrain 43pec. ftfiyda schoolgirls' championship of New Zealand, second 100yds schoolgirls' championship of New Zealand, second. 1919. 100yds ladies championship of New Zealand. first. 77 4-osec. 75yds girls’ intermediate championahin of New Zealand, first, 58 l-saec. 100yds girls’ intermediate championship of New Zealand, first. 80 4-ssec. 1920. 100yds ladies championship of New Zealand. second. 75yds girls’ intermediate championship of New Zealand, second 100yds girls' intermediate championship of New Zealand, second. 1921. 100yds ladies' championship of New Zealand. first. R9sec. ■44oyds ladies' championship of New Zealand. first. 6min 41 3-ssec 75yds girls' intermediate championship of New Zealand, first. 512-ssec. 100yds girls' intermediate championship of New Zealand, first. 71 2-ssec. 1923. a9oyds ladies' championship of New Zealand, second 440yde ladies’ championship of New Zealand. first. 6min 26 3-ssec. 22©yds championship of Hawaii, second of Hawaii, first. 6min 1923. 1 t d hird hamPiOMhiP ° f New Zealand. 440yds championship of New Zealand first 6min 29 2-ssec. ’ 100yds championship of Australia, second 2mi ° p _ l ° n s h * P of Australia. first. 440yds championship of Australia. first 6nnu 9 1-ssec. 1934. 220yds championship of Auckland. first. 1 00yds championship of Auckland first Imin 6 2-ssec. breast stroke SWIMMMER It is not a question of whether Herd will win; it will b- merely a question of what he will win by." said an enthusiastic admirer of C. Herd. Car trrbury's champion breast stroke swim mer. The eulogy of the enthusiast was probably exaggerated, but it is by no means an exaggeration to nav tha< Herd possesses most excellent chances of winning the world's breaststroke swimming title. Indeed, nobody has been mentioned among the champions of other countries who seems likely to haie anv hope of heating Herd. The Christchurch, boy is a wonderful swimmer. He is only 17 years of age. but already lie has gone close on several occasions to breaking the worlds re cord for 220 yards. He is able, at alm°st ever l , attempt, to cover th- dis tance. in better time than that of the swimmer who won the world's chan, p.onafcip at the last Olympic Games the Olympic record for 2011 metres ■ 218 yards! 3mm 1 4-ssee. estab m m f 7 ' V Bath!? (Germany) at Stockholm m 1912 Herd (though bv no means wound up in his training) has alreadv shown 3min Ssec for 230vards The present ,s h.s fourth vear of com petit.jve swimming In that time ins performances have b#en as follow. 1620. £2O Ta.rda Championship Trial Swini 2oiec. * lu 1922. 220 Yards N.Z. Championship imin l-ss«o. ’ 220 Yards Canterbury C’batnnionstaio 3m m 11 S-csec. 100 Yards New Zealand Championship imin 7 4 sser. 1924. 220 Yards Canterbury Championship. 3mio i S 2-fieeo. Herd is regarded as certain to wrestthe New Zealand Breast-stroke Championship from F Boulton, of Palmer ston North, who won it last year at Timaru. In build Herd is slight, but he is very wiry and is possessed of any amount of stamina and plenty of that Valuable commodity known to athletes

as “ heart. - ' He is of an exceedinly quiet disposition. You must seo him swim to know that he is a champion; you will never learn it by waiting for him to talk about it. SPLENDID BOXERS. Experts assert that the Dominion possesses three boxers capable of holding their own in the best of company, and are emphatic that, if a team is '•mt to the Games, the first selection should be Charles Purdy, the Auckland featherweight. This youth first came into prominence in 1921 when, while not yet sixteen years of age. he won the bantam championship of Auckland, followed up this success by carrying off the New Zealand championship at Greymouth, and then gained the highest honours obtainable by a Dominion boxer, by winning the Australasian championship at Sydney. In the following year, and again last year, in the feather-weight class he repeated these performances, securing the Australasian championship in 1922 at Hobart, and in 1923 at Melbourne. Australian boxing critics picked him out as a fitting representative to send * to Paris, and Auckland writers are persistent in urging his claims. Those who are qualified to speak authoritatively assert that Purdy is the most scientific boxer every produced in the Dominion, his cleverness being of the highest quality. His weakness is lack of punching power. The other two whose claims have oeen advanced are J. Leckie, of Dunedin, and R. Pascoe, of. Greymouth. The former, who last year won the South Island and the New Zealand championships in the f^v-weight class, while not the equal of Purdy in all-round skiil, is superior in aggressivemendous punch for his weight. His ness, and. moreover, he carries a tresupporters claim that for this reason he would be a more suitable representative than the Auckland lad. Pascoe, like Leckie. last year won the double in the light-weight class He is strong, skilful and aggressive, and an adept at the modern style of boxing, being especially effective at in-fighting, of which so much is seen nowadays. He would be very hard to beat, because allied to his strong attack is an admirable defence. On performances. if a boxing representative is selected then Purdy cannot be passed over. He has done all that has been asked of him, and has satisfied the critics of the two strongest boxing centres of the Commonwealth—Sydney and Melbourne—that he is fully qualified to meet the best amateurs in the world. ATHLETIC REPRESENTATION. At the last Olympic games at Stockholm. New Zealand was represented in the athletic* field by G. Davidson, Auckland, and H. F,. Wilson, Wellington Both men did well, though the shortness of the time at their disposal greatly militated against their chances of success. Davidson finished in front of Paddock, in his heat- of the 200 metres race. The New Zealander. however, strained one of his legs and did not do so well subsequently. Wilson got into the final of the 110 metres hurdles race. At the present time there is no athlete in New Zealand, with the possible exception of P. Munro who is class enough to compete at Paris. Munro can put, the shot 46ft. hut this would not be good enough to win, as the Americans and Finns put it in the vicinity of 50ft- at Stockholm.

Davidson. Tracy, Morgan, and Lewis are all good sprinters, but as none of them can do lOsec they would have poor prospects of success at. the Games. There is no outstanding half miler in the Dominion at .present. On his form of two years ago C. H. Taylor would be considered. Wilson has not regained his form since coming out of his retirement, and as the opposition in the hurdles is likely to be as strong as ever he is out of the question. Rose, of Wellington, put up two good runs at Mastertou recently, doing 4min 26see for the mile and 9mirl 38sec for the two miles. These are. very good performances, but unless he were able to knock some seconds off each performance he would not be in the hunt at the Games. Summing up. New Zealand’s prospects of being represented in athletics at Pans do not appear rosy at the moment. tennis possibilities. Although little mention has been made of tennis players in connection with the Olympic Games, t-be Dominion is by no means devoid of worthy representatives. Sims. Ollirier. Bartteet and Andrews all have claims to consideration. Of the quartette ali but three are young Ollivier is the : veteran, and. if trained, would be in a class equal probablv, to the best it. England, and would probably beat them. The other three, and particularly Sims and Andrews, are most brilliant. Sims, when he beat. Bart- ! I-et in the Wilding Shield match, was , i superlative tennis. A very old judge said that on his plav that i derson " l,uy v beaten .1. 6. An- [ “I do not know what the policy of I New Zealand would be in sending lawn i tennis players to the Olympic Games,” I a well informed tennis authority. ; whether it would he to eneolirage i >oung players or to make as good n I showing as possible for New Zealand.” | pointed out that Sims, the New j Zealand champion, is only 23. while Andrews, who. he considered ought to have beaten Sims, was only If). Tn regard to ladies’ tennis it is very difficult to find out what standard New Zealand has attained to. Last season the New South Wales ladies made us look pretty cheap. But the New Zealand girls have certainly got the stamina to enable them to play vigorous tennis In this case, as in the case of the men. there ir- a young player holding the championship,’ Miss Spiers, of Christchurch. She is 20 years of age and has only been ulaying tennis for four years. Miss Howe, of Wellington. is also just out ~f her ’teens. These two are most promising vomw players, and thev arc the most stdish players we have. Doubt is expressed as to whether the term it players will subscribe for the purpose of sendin" these players away “The New Zealand Association has no money. said the gentleman quoted earlier, “and this is reflected in the preposterous proposal- you can call it- nothing else -to plav Peacock in the next Davis Cud because he i« on his way Home now. Peacock was a champion twenty years ago.”