A good old piece of 'number eight fencing wire' helped Ngaire Galloway stay in shape on her trip to the London Olympics in 1948.
Just over five weeks on a converted cargo ship the Port Hobart, with "very basic" facilities, meant she was unable to keep up her fitness as the seven-strong New Zealand team travelled to the first Olympics since the end of World War Two.
"It was very long and the days stretched out," Galloway, who raced the 100 metres backstroke under her maiden name Lane at the London Games, told Reuters in an interview at the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) Museum on Monday.
"You missed out on training so the boys used to run around the deck and Dutch (John) Holland put up a hurdle and he used to come belting down the deck.
"Nick Carter, the cyclist had his bike set up on rollers, but ... as the days passed I realised I was losing fitness."
With some equipment procured from the captain of the boat she set up a flat bench and a weighted pulley system that allowed her to work on her stroke.
A video of footage from the long journey, highlighting her unusual training methods, was on display at the NZOC Museum, where she was attending a function that was attended by British Minister of State Jeremy Browne of the Foreign Commonwealth Office and Britain's High Commissioner to New Zealand Vicki Treadell.
Browne has responsibilty for the legacy effects of the 2012 London Olympics and the function was organised by the NZOC to asertain how they could use the rugby World Cup to drum up more business, government and sporting networking opportunites heading into the London Games.
Galloway is one of two surviving members of the New Zealand team at the 1948 London Games -- weightlifter Maurice Crow is the other -- the last time the Olympics were held in the British capital.
The 85-year-old said the abiding memories of what were eventually labelled the 'Austerity Games' were the devastation in the city, three years after the war ended, and the drive of the British people to ensure they went ahead.
"It was a real shock to us. We knew about the bombing of course, but ... it was shocking to see whole areas bombed out.
"They (the buildings) were still just rubble at this stage. They hadn't begun to rebuild.
"You could see the stress the people had gone through. It was quite palpable the hardships they had come through and London looked grey.
"But the people themselves were very pleased the Games were there and they welcomed us very warmly.
"It was just a wonderful time. And they did so well. They put on those Games and it must have been very difficult."
Galloway said coming from New Zealand and going onto the world stage had effected her performance, where she finished seventh in her semi-final.
"You get so nervous and you feel physically sick. I'd never seen a huge crowd like the ones at the pool at Wembley. It was a big jump from the New Zealand swimming championships.
"I'm not making excuses for not doing better than I would have liked to have done ... (but) I would have loved to have had that swim on the next day."
Galloway retired after the London Games to get married and have a family, though she did travel with her husband Ken to the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne and again to the Sydney Games in 2000 as a spectator.
She would have "loved" a return trip to London for next year's Games but felt she would not be able to travel all the way to Britain again, even by boat.
"Oh no, too far," she said with a laugh. "I'll watch it on television instead."
Please double click on the newslink: for more Olympics stories
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment