Ngaire Lane

Ngaire Galloway JP (née Lane, born 31 October 1925) is a former New Zealand swimmer, who represented her country at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. She is New Zealand's oldest living Olympian.

Ngaire Galloway
Personal information
Birth nameNgaire Lane
Born (1925-10-31) 31 October 1925
Cambridge, New Zealand
EducationOtago Girls' High School
Years active1940–49
Spouse(s)
Kenneth Miller Galloway
(m. 1949; died 2007)
Sport
CountryNew Zealand
SportSwimming
Achievements and titles
National finals
  • New Zealand
  • 100 yds backstroke champion (1944–49)
  • 220 yds backstroke champion (1944–49)
  • 100 yds medley champion (1947)
  • 50 yds freestyle champion (1947)
  • United Kingdom
  • 100 m backstroke champion (1948)

Biography

Galloway was born Ngaire Lane in Cambridge on 31 October 1925, the daughter of Mabel Doris Lane (née Saxby) and William George Lane.[1][2][3] She was educated at Otago Girls' High School.[4] In 1940, she was the New Zealand junior champion in 50 and 100 yards freestyle and 50 yards backstroke, equalling the national junior record in the latter event. In 1943 she broke the national intermediate 100 yards backstroke record, and the following year she broke the national senior record for 220 yards backstroke, thus becoming the first female swimmer to hold junior, intermediate and senior national records concurrently. She was the national champion for the 100 yards and 220 yards backstroke every year from 1944 to 1949, and in 1947 she also won the 100 yards medley and 50 yards freestyle titles.[1]

Lane travelled to London in 1948 as the only swimmer and only woman on the New Zealand team at the Olympic Games. Before the games, she swam in the 1948 ASA British Championships 110 yards backstroke and won the event.[5][1] At the Olympics, she reached the semi-finals of the 100 m backstroke, where she finished seventh in a time of 1:19.0.[2] At the conclusion of the Olympic swim meet, Lane was part of an Australasian team that finished third in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay at the Continental Relay Gala.[1]

On 21 May 1949, Lane married Kenneth Miller Galloway—a medical student at the University of Otago—in Thames.[6][7] He died in 2007.[8]

The last surviving member of the 1948 New Zealand Olympic team, Galloway is New Zealand's oldest living Olympian.[9] In 2011, she was inducted into Nelson's Legends of Sport.[10] Galloway's granddaughter, Gina Galloway, won a bronze medal in the 100 m backstroke at the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games and competed at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics.[11][12]

References

  1. "Nelson Legends of Sport — Ngaire Galloway". Sport Tasman. Archived from the original on 14 January 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  2. "Ngaire Lane bio, stats, and results". Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  3. "Birth". Waikato Independent. 3 November 1925. p. 1. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  4. McMurran, Alistair (20 November 2009). "Otago Girls High School honours its Olympians". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  5. ""Swimming." Times, 12 July 1948, p. 2". Times Digital Archive.
  6. "Olympic swimmer married". Gisborne Herald. 26 May 1949. p. 7. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  7. "Engagements". Otago Daily Times. 22 April 1948. p. 1. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  8. "Plot record details". Nelson City Council. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  9. "Olympic veteran motivates swim team". New Zealand Olympic Committee. 11 July 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  10. Martin, Wayne (8 December 2011). "Ahletics keeps high profile at sports awards". Nelson Mail. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  11. Neal, Tracey (21 September 2018). "It's all swimming in the Galloway family". Radio New Zealand. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
  12. "New Zealand swimmer makes Olympian grandmother proud". XinhuaNet. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
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