Games swimming events

New Caledonians dominated Games swimming events

Led by a 12-year-old prodigy, Marie-Jose Kersaudy, New Caledonia’s swimmers completely outclassed the opposition at the Games to win all 19 gold medals awarded and all but three of the 15 silver medals available to it.

THIS annihilating performance was astonishing, considering that the New Caledonians did not win a single gold medal in Suva and hardly any of the silver ones.

Moreover, until about 16 months before the Games, the New Cale donians did not even have a pool to train in.

The secret of the New Cale donians’ success was fivefold: • The building of an attractive training pool in Noumea at Point Brunelet. • The building of the magnificent Municipal Olympic Swimming Pool at Anse Vata, Noumea, where the Games events were held. • The discovery of several natural swimming champions.

• The importation of an expert French coach, Marc Menaud, who brought the swimmers to their peak by instituting long and strict training routines. • The over-confidence of Fiji’s swimmers, who won all gold medals at the Suva Games, and who arrived in Noumea expecting to win at least half of those offering this time.

On the first day of the swimming programme, when qualification heats were held for some of the men’s events, it did, indeed, appear that the Fiji swimmers were again going to carry off a bagful of medals.

Fiji’s magnificently built Sailosi Baleisolomone comfortably beat two of New Caledonia’s best men in one of the 100 metres freestyle heats. He

ilso came in first in a heat of the 100 metres butterfly.

In the second heat of the 100 metres freestyle, Carl Bay and Phil Wilkins, of Fiji, filled first and second places—both men knocking seconds iff Bay’s record Suva time.

However, when the men’s finals vere held, it was evident that whereas ;he Fiji swimmers had been going iat out in the heats, the New Caledo lians had merely been coasting along, rhey won comfortably in all the inals.

New Caledonia’s Dominique [Douceur collected three gold medals md a silver in the individual events, md another gold in a relay.

The remaining five gold medals tor men’s individual events went to ive different New Caledonians, which proved that their team had plenty if depth.

In the women’s events, Marie-Jose Kersaudy collected five gold medals in the individual races, and two more in the relays to become the most decorated performer at either :he First or Second Games, Marie-Jose, who is only 5 ft 3 in. tall and slightly built, is a human seal, who seems almost certain to go mi to Olympic honours. She gains ?reat propulsion from her legs, which pound the water with the ease and rhythm of a ship’s propeller.

Marie-Jose knocked more than 10 seconds off the Suva record for the 100 metres backstroke event, and nearly seconds off the 100 metres Freestyle record.

Her time for the 400 metres free style was almost a minute better than the Suva time; and in the 800 metres freestyle event (not held in Suva) she finished more than a lap ahead of two of her team-mates, who are no mean performers.

The only non-New Caledonians

to win medals in the women’s individual events were 11-year-old Olive Pickering, of Fiji, the youngest Games competitor, and M. Smith, of Fiji.

Olive Pickering, by winning two silver and one bronze, showed that she has the potential for greater things as she grows older and stronger.

Although Papua-New Guinea’s swimmers did not get among the medals except in the relays, their manager, Gerry Toogood, was more than satisfied with their performances.

“We had a very young team, and our whole aim was to train them for the 1969 Games,” he said after wards.

“Actually, we did better than we expected, as some of our swimmers, because of exams., had been in the water for only two weeks, while the New Caledonians had been training hard for eight months.”

Footnote: Officially, no Suva swimming records were broken in Noumea as the events in Suva were over British distances while those in Noumea were over fractionally dif ferent metric distances.

Dominique Douceur