Marrion Roe Explained

Marrion Roe should not be confused with Marion Roe.

Marrion Roe
Birth Name:Marrion Douglass Roe
Birth Date:3 April 1935
Birth Place:Invercargill, New Zealand
Death Place:Whangārei, New Zealand
Nationals:100 yd freestyle champion (1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956)
220 yd freestyle champion (1954, 1956)
440 yd freestyle champion (1956)

Marrion Douglass Roe (later Beck; 3 April 1935  - 29 June 2017) was a New Zealand swimmer who represented her country at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games and the 1956 Summer Olympics.

Biography

Born in Invercargill on 3 April 1935, Roe later moved to Hamilton, and represented Waikato at the New Zealand national swimming championships. In all, she won eight national swimming titles: the 100 yards freestyle every year from 1952 to 1956; the 220 yards freestyle in 1954 and 1956; and the 440 yards freestyle in 1956.[1]

In 1954, Roe swam at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff. In the 110 yards freestyle, she finished fourth in the final, with a time of 1:08.9.[2] She recorded a time of 5:34.7 in her heat of the 440 yards freestyle and did not progress to the final.[3]

In February 1955, Roe swam what was at that time the fastest 100 yards freestyle in the Southern Hemisphere, recording a time of 59.0 seconds, which was 0.9 seconds outside Jody Braskamp's world record.[4]

She competed in 100 metres and 400 metres freestyle at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne.[5] In the 100 metres she finished in seventh place in the final with a time of 1:05.6, while in the 400 metres she swam 5:18.5 to finish fourth in her heat and did not progress to the final.[5]

In early 1957, Roe married John Aitchison Beck, who was secretary of the Waikato Swimming Centre. On their honeymoon, she gave a demonstration at a swimming carnival in Gisborne.[6]

Marrion Beck was widowed by the death of her husband in 2010.[7] She died at Puriri Court Rest Home in Whangārei on 29 June 2017.[8]

Notes and References

  1. Book: McLintock . A.H. . Alexander Hare McLintock . An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand . Swimming – national championships . 31 August 2017 . 1966 . Ministry for Culture and Heritage . Wellington.
  2. Web site: Results for the 1954 British Empire & Commonwealth Games – Swimming – 110 yard freestyle – women . 2014 . Commonwealth Games Federation . 31 August 2017.
  3. Web site: Results for the 1954 British Empire & Commonwealth Games – Swimming – 440 yard freestyle – women . 2014 . Commonwealth Games Federation . 31 August 2017.
  4. News: Fastest 100-yard swim in Southern Hemisphere . 11 February 1955 . Canberra Times . 31 August 2017 . 1.
  5. Marrion Roe . https://web.archive.org/web/20200418073005/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ro/marrion-roe-1.html . dead . 18 April 2020 . 6 October 2016.
  6. News: Marrion Roe in Gisborne . 7 February 1957 . Gisborne Photo News . 31 . 31 August 2017 . 58.
  7. Web site: Family of John Scott, engineer, 1828–1905 and Ann Hamilton, 1834–1909 of Lanark, Scotland and Dunedin, NZ . 28 March 2016 . Mary . Skipworth . 31 August 2017.
  8. News: Marrion Douglass Beck. 31 August 2017 . The New Zealand Herald. 1 July 2017.