The spotlight's

on Olive

THE sports focus is on lean, lithe Olive Pickering, the 12year-old from Fiji who in Aus tralia recently broke the New South Wales country records in the under-12 220 yards medley, under-12 110 yards freestyle, and under-14 110 yards backstroke.

Olive was called a coming Olympic champion by Australia’s Dawn Fraser, who added, “I only wish she could swim for Australia.”

Dawn described Fiji’s little fish as “rapidly approaching the class of American’s wonder child, Susan Peterson.”

Susan Peterson is 13, and Olive turned 12 the first week in February.

With already a stack of cups, shields, medals and certificates to her credit, the fresh-faced, seem ingly happy-go-lucky Olive came back from Australia with five gold and four medals to add to her collection.

She has been swimming since she was four years old, now rarely displays nerves, refuses to rest be fore carnivals and is refreshingly unspoilt.

Bob Kennedy, her coach in Suva, shows another light to hei character: “She is a person appreciative of hard work, and be lieve me, when you train six miles a day to win, you appreciate what you earn.”

Olive used to train four miles

a day before she went to Aus tralia, when she increased it to six and has continued with it since.

Olive’s present aim is to break the minute for the 100 metres free style. John Bown, in Australia, predicts she will achieve this in two years.

Her best time to date is 66 seconds, which she recorded in the NSW State Championships.

Olive has reached her present peak by swimming under Bob Kennedy’s direction during the past 18 months.

In Australia she trained under John Bown, who is enthusiastic about her potential, and who, thoughtfully, sends Olive and her parents newspaper clippings when ever her photograph or achieve ments are featured in the Aus tralian Press.

Despite the publicity, she is an unaffected youngster, with a natural charm which makes her a winner in the personality field.

She has an older brother, Albert 14, an enthusiastic but not a competitive swimmer, and a younger sister, Ailsa, aged six, who repeatedly asserts: “I’m go ing to beat you one day, Ollie.”

Family of eight

The daughter of Mr. and Mrs.

Gus Pickering, Olive was first taught to swim by her mother, Fanny. Fanny Pickering was the eldest of a family of eight chil dren, brought up in the country by a fond but strict grandmother, who was a perfectionist. Time and time again the young Fanny had to repeat her chores until they were done to the grand mother’s liking.

Fanny taught herself to swim, and after she married Gus Pickering and had her family, a position as caretaker of the Suva Sea Baths became vacant. With the position went the use of the caretaker’s cottage, no mean in ducement in a low-wage city such as Suva, so Fanny herself applied

for the job to help out the family finances.

To qualify she set to and gained her Life Saving Certificate.

Later, as caretaker, she had opportunities to watch topline swimmers and coaches at work in the baths, and thus when she de cided to teach the four-year-old Olive to swim Olive got some ex cellent coaching from her mother.

“She was an energetic child who was never still,” says Mrs. Picker ing. “I knew she would have to swim or else drown.”

The ghost of Fanny’s grand mother smiled approvingly when the mother set to and taught the child to swim correctly. In her coaching Mrs. Pickering even went so far as to tie with handkerchiefs Olive’s now much-d iscu s s e d fingers.

“Opening my fingers when I swim is a habit I just can’t break,” says Olive, with a grin.

Her mother tried valiantly to prevent her forming the habit and Bob Kennedy uses elastic bands in his efforts to break it, but so far to no avail. Underneath Olive’s recurring grin and relaxed manner lies so much determination it is surprising she has not con quered the habit.

Now there’s talk of Olive get ting a scholarship to enable her to go to Australia for education, in which case she’ll swim for that country.

“It would be a wonderful oppor tunity for her,” says her mother, and Olive, who enjoyed herself hugely in Australia, would love to go. —Beryl Cates, in Suva.

Marie-Jose Kersaudy, the 12-year old New Caledonian girl who won seven gold medals at the recent South Pacific Games in Noumea, arrived in Australia in February to take part in various championships.

At North Sydney on February 15 she set a new French under-13 record when she swam 400 metres freestyle in 4m. 59.6s better than her Games record

Olive Pickering