Kiwi swimmers produce outstanding Games campaign
New Zealand swimmers equalled their best-ever performance at a Commonwealth Games offshore with six medals after the campaign ended in Melbourne tonight.
They could not add to their tally on the final night at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre with the women’s medley relay fourth, Helen Norfolk fifth in the 400m individual medley, and the men’s medley relay also fifth.
New Zealand’s six medals, comprising one gold, one silver and four bronze medals, equals that of Jamaica (1966), Christchurch (1974), Edinburgh (1986) and Edinburgh (1986) and one less than the 1990 home Games in Auckland.
It was a significant step up from the last two Commonwealth Games swim programmes. The six medals compares to just two at Manchester four years ago, with Kiwi swimmers making 25 finals compared with 12 in 2002. And they claimed 10 New Zealand records compared with three at Manchester, along with two Commonwealth Games records.
Overall head coach Jan Cameron said it was another step up for the New Zealand swimming programme.
``This is the best performance ever by a New Zealand swim team at a Commonwealth Games away from home and equals the Auckland Games of 1990,’’ Cameron said. ``Our international programme is still developing and we have taken another step up from the world championships last year.
``Some swimmers have made significant progress like Moss Burmester, Cameron Gibson and Lauren Boyle while our premier swimmers like Dean Kent, Hannah McLean and Helen Norfolk produced world class efforts.
``In the past New Zealand has tended to have had top performances from two or three outstanding individuals. In Melbourne we have seen quality international performances across most of this team, so the depth of talent in New Zealand is improving and we are seeing performances out of our total programme.
``As well as our six medals we also had seven fourth placings and five fifths which shows we are getting much more competitive internationally.
``These Games have been important to our continued development. They are still a stepping stone and now we are looking forward to the world short course championships in Shanghai in two weeks, the world championships in Melbourne this time next year and on to Beijing and we will need to make continued improvement along the way.’’
The women’s relay team was boosted with a brilliant 1:00.83 lead off from Hannah McLean which broke her New Zealand and the Commonwealth Games record, with the time good enough to have won gold in the individual race.
They remained in medal calculation until the final 10m when Canada edged them by 3/10ths of a second but the quartet of McLean, Annabelle Carey, Liz Coster and Alison Fitch clocked 8:06.30 to break their New Zealand record by two seconds.
The men’s team also pushed hard with a 55.77 lead-off from Scott Talbot-Cameron and came home with a 3:40.75, taking a second off the mark they set a the world championships in Montreal.
Norfolk was disappointed with her fifth placing in the 400m individual medley after a strong butterfly and backstroke legs, turning second at the 200m mark. She dropped to fourth in the breaststroke and closed to within 1/100th of a second from third with 50m remaining in the freestyle.
``It’s disappointing. I am probably the best freestyler out there but I could not get going tonight,’’ Norfolk said. ``I really enjoyed that feeling of walking around the pool with my bronze medal in the relay and wanted that experience again.
``I am unsure why I could not produce a faster time. All my training pointed to the fact that I was looking at my best of 3:44 but it didn’t happen for me.
``I will learn from it, talk to my coaches and be very positive moving on to the world short course championships. May be I still need another year of this sort of raining and I am certainly still motivated towards the worlds here next year and on to Beijing.’’
New Zealand results:
400m individual medley: Helen Norfolk 4:48.09 (5th).
Women’s 4x100m medley relay: 4:06.30 (4th) NZ record (H McLean 1:00.83 NZ and Games record, A Carey 1:09.73, E Coster 1:00.06, A Fitch 55.68)
Men’s 4x100m medley relay:3:40.75 (5th) (S Talbot-Cameron 55.77, G Snyders 1:02.88, M Burmester 52.22, C Gibson 49.88)
New Zealand medals:
Gold: Moss Burmester, 200m butterfly
Silver: Dean Kent, 200m individual medley
Bronze: Hannah McLean 200m backstroke, Moss Burmester 100m butterfly, Cameron Gibson 200m backstroke, Women’s 4x200m freestyle relay (Lauren Boyle, Helen Norfolk, Alison Fitch, Melissa Ingram)
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