New Zealand at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games explained

Cga:	NZL
Cganame:	New Zealand Olympic and British Empire Games Association
Games:	British Empire and Commonwealth Games
Year:	1954
Location:	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Competitors:	56
Flagbearer:	Opening: Max Carr Closing:
Rank:	5
Gold:	7
Silver:	7
Bronze:	5

New Zealand at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games was represented by a team of 56 competitors and nine officials. Selection of the team for the Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, was the responsibility of the New Zealand Olympic and British Empire Games Association. New Zealand's flagbearer at the opening ceremony was Max Carr. The New Zealand team finished fifth on the medal table, winning a total of 19 medals, seven of which were gold.

New Zealand has competed in every games, starting with the British Empire Games in 1930 at Hamilton, Ontario.

Medal tables

New Zealand was fifth in the medal table in 1954, with a total of 19 medals, including seven gold.

Medal	Name	Sport	Event
			Men's 220 yards
			Women's discus throw
			Women's long jump
			Women's shot put
			Men's single sculls
			Men's coxless pair
			Men's 220 yards breaststroke
			Men's 440 yards
			Men's road race
			Men's singles
			Men's coxed four
			Men's double sculls
			Men's 110 yards backstroke
			Men's 3 x 110 yards medley relay
			Men's 3 m springboard
			Women's 110 yards backstroke
			Men's light heavyweight
			Men's heavyweight
			Men's featherweight

Medals by sport
Sport	bgcolor=#f7f6a8		bgcolor=#dce5e5		bgcolor=#ffdab9		Total
	4	1	0	5
	2	2	0	4
	1	2	1	4
	0	1	0	1
	0	1	0	1
	0	0	2	2
	0	0	1	1
	0	0	1	1
Total	7	7	5	19

Medals by gender
Gender	bgcolor=#f7f6a8		bgcolor=#dce5e5		bgcolor=#ffdab9		Total
Male	4	7	4	15
Female	3	0	1	4
Total	7	7	5	19

Competitors

The following table lists the number of New Zealand competitors participating at the Games according to gender and sport.

width=180	Sport	width=55	Men	width=55	Women	width=55	Total
Athletics	11	3	14
Boxing	4		4
Cycling	5		5
Diving	1	1	2
Fencing	3	1	4
Lawn bowls	7		7
Rowing	8		8
Swimming	3	3	6
Weightlifting	3		3
Wrestling	2		2
Total	47	8	55

Athletics

See main article: Athletics at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games.

Track

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
align=left rowspan=2	Bill Baillie	align=left	Men's 880 yards	1:52.3	2 Q	1:52.5	4
align=left	Men's 1 mile	4:11.4	1 Q	4:13.2	7
align=left rowspan=2	Jim Daly	align=left	Men's 1 mile			did not advance
align=left	Men's 3 miles	14:41.0	14
align=left rowspan=2	Dave Fleming	align=left	Men's 440 yards	49.8	3	did not advance
align=left	Men's 440 yards hurdles	53.8	3 Q	53.9	4
Murray Halberg	align=left	Men's 1 mile	4:07.4 GR	1 Q	4:07.2	5
align=left rowspan=2	Ernie Haskell	align=left	Men's 3 miles	14:07.0	9
align=left	Men's 6 miles	31:41.0	11
align=left rowspan=2	Don Jowett	align=left	Men's 220 yards	21.8	1 Q	21.9	1 Q	21.5
align=left	Men's 440 yards	48.4	1 Q	48.9	2 Q	47.4
align=left rowspan=2	Lawrence King	align=left	Men's 3 miles	14:03.4	8
align=left	Men's 6 miles	31:01.9	9
Noelene Swinton	align=left	Women's 100 yards	11.5	8	did not advance
Yvette Williams	align=left	Women's 80 m hurdles	11.3	2 Q	11.5	6

Field

Athlete	Event	Qualifying		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank
align=left	June Blackburn	align=left	Women's long jump	16feet	13
align=left	Max Carr	align=left	Men's hammer throw	152feet	8 Q	157feet	8
align=left	Murray Jeffries	align=left	Men's high jump	6feet	9
align=left	Merv Richards	align=left	Men's pole vault	13feet	5
align=left	Noelene Swinton	align=left	Women's high jump	5feet	=5
align=left	Peter Wells	align=left	Men's high jump	6feet	4
align=left rowspan=3	Yvette Williams	align=left	Women's discus throw	147feet
align=left	Women's long jump	19feet GR
align=left	Women's shot put	45feet GR

Boxing

Athlete	Event	width=125	Quarter Final	width=125	Semi Final	width=125	Final /	Rank
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result
Eddie Stockley	Bantamweight		L	Did not advance	4
Alan Scaife	Light welterweight		L	Did not advance	4
Mike Hannah	Welterweight	L	did not advance
Maurice Tuck	Light middleweight		L	Did not advance	4

Cycling

Road

Men's road race

Athlete	Time	Rank
John Baird
Les Lock		unplaced
Lance Payne		unplaced
Neil Ritchie		unplaced

Track

Men's 1000 m sprint

Athlete	Round 1	Repechage	Round 2	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final /
	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Colin Dickinson	2	W 12.3	W 12.4	L, L	did not advance
Les Lock	L	2	L	did not advance

Men's 1 km time trial

Athlete	Time	Rank
Colin Dickinson	1:13.2	6
Les Lock	1:16.1	16
Neil Ritchie	1:15.3	12

Men's 4000 m individual pursuit

Men's 10 miles scratch race

Athlete	Time	Rank
Colin Dickinson		unplaced
Les Lock		5
Neil Ritchie		unplaced

Diving

Athlete	Event	Points	Rank
Jeanette Laws	Women's 3 m springboard	104.26	5
Women's 10 m platform	61.34	4
Jack Stewart	Men's 3 m springboard	144.98

Fencing

Men

Individual epee

Athlete	Elimination pool								Final pool								Rank
	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Wins	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Wins
Austen Gittos								2	did not advance
Brian Hampton								3	did not advance
Walter Stafford								5								1	8

Individual foil

Athlete	Elimination pool								Final pool								Rank
	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Wins	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Wins
Austen Gittos	W	W	L	W	W	W		5	L	W	L	L	L	W	L	2	7
Brian Hampton	L	L	L	L	L	L		0	did not advance
Walter Stafford	L	L	L	L	L	L	L	0	did not advance

Individual sabre

Athlete	Elimination pool								Final pool								Rank
	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Wins	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Wins
Austen Gittos	L	L	L	L	W	L	L	1	did not advance
Brian Hampton	L	L	L	L	L	L	L	0	did not advance
Walter Stafford	L	L	W	L	L	L		1	did not advance

Team epee

Team foil

Team sabre

Women

Individual foil

Lawn bowls

Athlete	Event	Round robin													Rank
		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score
James Pirret	Men's singles	W 21 – 19	W 21 – 19	L 20 – 21	W 21 – 7	L 17 – 21	L 14 – 21	W 21 – 8	W 21 – 8	W 21 – 8	6	0	3	+45
Eliphalet Ravenwood Andrew Snaddon	Men's pairs	L 12 – 29	W 29 – 14	L 16 – 21	L 20 – 21	L 28 – 17	W 21 – 18	W 21 – 20	L 13 – 27	W 25 – 22	4	0	5	−23	8
William Freeth Arthur Webster Arthur Connew Pete Skoglund	Men's fours	L 18 – 24	L 20 – 26	W 30 – 14	L 14 – 26	L 11 – 26	W 26 – 20	D 20 – 20	W 29 – 18	L 14 – 26	3	1	5	−18	6

Rowing

Athlete	Event	Heat		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Don Rowlands	Men's single sculls	8:52.1	1 Q	8:28.2
Bob Parker Reg Douglas	Men's double sculls	8:05.2
Men's coxless pair	8:23.9
Bruce Culpan Kerry Ashby Bill Tinnock Murray Ashby Stanley Callagher (cox)	Men's coxed four	8:13.9	2 Q	8:04.0

Swimming

Athlete	Event	Heat		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Jack Doms	align=left	Men's 220 yards breaststroke	2:54.1	2 Q	2:52.6
align=left rowspan=2	Winifred Griffin	align=left	Women's 110 yards freestyle	1:12.2	12	did not advance
align=left	Women's 440 yards freestyle	5:39.8	9	did not progress
Lincoln Hurring	align=left	Men's 110 yards backstroke	1:07.6	2 Q	1:06.9
align=left rowspan=2	Buddy Lucas	align=left	Men's 440 yards freestyle	4:58.3	9	did not advance
align=left	Men's 1650 yards freestyle	20:17.3	7	did not progress
align=left rowspan=2	Marrion Roe	align=left	Women's 110 yards freestyle	1:08.7	5	1:08.9	4
align=left	Women's 440 yards freestyle	5:34.7	8	did not progress
Jean Stewart	align=left	Women's 110 yards backstroke	1:16.9	2 Q	1:17.5
Lincoln Hurring Jack Doms Buddy Lucas	align=left	Men's 3 x 110 yards medley relay	3:26.6

Weightlifting

Athlete	Event	Press	Snatch	Jerk	Total	Rank
Tony George	Light heavyweight	250lb	230lb	300lb	780lb
Trevor Clark	Middle heavyweight	250lb	240lb	300lb	790lb	5
Harold Cleghorn	Heavyweight	305lb	275lb	350lb	930lb

Wrestling

Athlete	Event	Elimination rounds			Rank
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result
Ken Ruby	Bantamweight	L	L	Eliminated
John Armitt	Featherweight	W	L	L

Officials

• Team manager – Alex Ross^[1]

See also

• New Zealand Olympic Committee
• New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games
• New Zealand at the 1952 Summer Olympics
• New Zealand at the 1956 Summer Olympics

External links

• NZOC website on the 1954 games
• Commonwealth Games Federation website
• Athletes in the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand has a paragraph on these Games

Notes and References

1. News: Empire Games team . 18 May 1954 . . 90 . 27352 . 14 . 6 September 2022.

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