Going for gold in grandmother’s wake
At 93, Ngaire Galloway keeps a scrapbook full of memories and a table full of medals as a reminder of a stellar swimming career.
Even up until three years ago, the country’s oldest living Olympian was swimming up to 30 lengths in a session.
This year, her granddaughter Gina Galloway is one of four swimmers representing New Zealand at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games next month.
The younger Galloway made a flying visit to ‘‘Nana Ngaire’’ at Nelson’s The Wood Retirement Home yesterday, ahead of her departure for Argentina next week.
The pair looked at a film clip of Ngaire and her fellow 1948 New Zealand Olympic team-mates embarking on the six-week ship voyage to Britain – a far cry from the comparative luxury of a 12-hour flight to Buenos Aires.
‘‘Growing up listening to her stories from her experiences and trips in swimming and the friends she’s made through the sport all over the world has been really inspiring for me,’’ Gina said.
The 17-year-old student at Auckland’s Diocesan School for Girls won a bronze medal at the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games in the Bahamas and will this year compete in the 50m, 100m, 200m backstroke and 100m butterfly events.
Ngaire said she had full confidence in Gina’s ability to do well.
‘‘She’s got such a good coach up there in Auckland – if you have a good mentor behind you, you’re halfway there – she’s been very fortunate and her parents support her a great deal.’’
‘‘She’s pretty independent and she’ll set her own goals – once she’s focused, she goes for it – and that’s academically too.’’
Ngaire said while technology, training techniques and travel times had changed, the notion of hard work still paid off in the pool.
It is no coincidence that Galloway is a backstroke specialist, with Galloway senior competing in the women’s 100m backstroke at the 1948 London Olympic Games. She finished 11th overall and was the only woman in the New Zealand team.
Having only been as far as Australia prior to her Olympic debut, Ngaire said the post-war backdrop of the ‘‘Austerity Games’’ was a shock for the then-23 year-old, who had to be accompanied by a chaperone for the trip.
‘‘It was sad to see London in that state – there were whole blocks that were still rubble and they hadn’t the time to clean them up – I sprained my ankle two or three times just walking around on the footpaths. It was hard to realise what they must have gone through night after night.’’
While Gina has picked up the swimming gene from her grandmother, her decision to study medicine next year means another noble pursuit is being passed down the generations.
‘‘Just like her grandad, and her uncle too . . . it runs in the family.’’