Malcolm Eadie Champion (10 November 1882 – 26 July 1939) was

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's first

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gold medallist, and the first swimmer to represent New Zealand at an Olympic Games. He won a gold medal in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay at the

1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics ( sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1912), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad ( sv, Den V olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, be ...

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as part of a combined team with

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, competing as ''

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologica ...

''.

Background

Champion was born in 1882 in

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(now an Australian territory but then a

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colony). He moved to New Zealand as a teenager. His mother, Sarah Clara Quintal, descended from the ''Bounty'' mutineer

Matthew Quintal The complement of , the Royal Navy ship on which a historic mutiny occurred in the south Pacific on 28 April 1789, comprised 46 men on its departure from England in December 1787 and 44 at the time of the mutiny, including her commander Lieute ...

. His father Captain William Nihill Champion was a sea captain who traded around the Pacific. Malcolm later worked on his father's ships and by the end of the 19th century was living in Auckland. He died on 26 July 1939 in Auckland, New Zealand.Births, Deaths & Marriages, new Zealand, Death Index 1939/16375

Titles

Between 1901 and 1914, Champion won thirty-two New Zealand national titles, at one point holding the titles for every distance between and one mile (1.6 km). Champion was suspended at the end of 1902 by the national swimming association for failing to pay registration fees and was allowed to re-enter the sport in the southern summer of 1907–08. His suspension has often wrongly been called a life ban for professionalism. In 1911 he was the long-distance champion of

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on the

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. He had also represented Australasia at the 1911 Festival of Empire at

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, an early forerunner to the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

, where he pulled out of the mile race.

Olympics

Due to the financial difficulties faced by the New Zealand Olympic Committee, his swimming club had to fundraise for him and organize loans so he could travel to the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. At the Olympics, Champion carried the flag for the Australasian team. Champion was originally slated to compete in the 400 m and 1500 m freestyle events. He finished second in his 400 m heat behind

Harold Hardwick Harold Hampton Hardwick (14 December 1888 – 22 February 1959) was a versatile Australian sports star of the early 20th century – an Olympic gold medal swimmer, national heavyweight boxing champion, and a state representative rugby union ...

and before finishing fourth in his semi-final to be eliminated. In the 1500 m event, he placed second in both his heat and semifinal, before abandoning in the final after 600 m. An ear infection to

Bill Longworth William Longworth (26 September 1892 – 19 October 1969) was an Australian freestyle swimmer who competed for Australasia in the 1912 Summer Olympics. Personal He was born in Rix's Creek, Singleton, New South Wales, and died in Wahroonga, Ne ...

resulted in Champion being promoted to the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay team. In the final on 15 July, Champion swam the second leg, and started equal with the American swimmer after Cecil Healy's first leg before building up a 10 m lead in his leg.

Les Boardman Leslie Boardman (2 August 1889 – 23 November 1975) was an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1910s. As a member of the Australasia combined team of Australia and New Zealand athletes, Boardman won a gold medal in the 4×200-metre freestyle ...

extended the lead to 15 m before

held off

Duke Kahanamoku Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku (August 24, 1890 – January 22, 1968) was a Hawaiian competition swimmer who popularized the sport of surfing. A Native Hawaiian, he was born to a minor noble family less than three years before th ...

to claim the gold medal in the world record time of 10:11.6. The final was the third time that a world record had been set in that event at the Stockholm games, the first two times occurring on 12 July with the

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team swimming 10:26.4, only to be bettered later that day by the Australasian team who swam 10:14.0 (the United States team won the silver medal in the final).

Honours

Champion was New Zealand's only Olympic gold medalist in swimming until 1996, when

Danyon Loader Danyon Joseph Loader (born 21 April 1975) is an Olympic champion, former world record holder swimmer from New Zealand, based in Dunedin. He remains the national record holder in the 400 metre freestyle short course. He swam for New Zealand a ...

won in the 200 m and 400 m freestyle events at the

Atlanta Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. In 1990 Champion became an inaugural inductee into the

New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame The New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame is an organisation commemorating New Zealand's greatest sporting triumphs. It was inaugurated as part of the New Zealand sesquicentenary celebrations in 1990. Some 160 members have been inducted into the Hall o ...

. In 2005 the winning relay team was inducted into the

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and Dawn Fraser th ...

, making Champion the only non-Australian inductee. Like

Billy Savidan John William Savidan (23 May 1902 – 8 November 1991), nicknamed "Billy", "Bill" or "Jack" and born in Auckland, was a New Zealand long distance runner from 1926. At the New Zealand at the 1930 British Empire Games, 1930 British Empire G ...

after him, he was for some years Custodian at Auckland's

Tepid Baths The Tepid Baths is a public indoor pool complex in Auckland, New Zealand. The baths opened in 1914 on a site that had previously been occupied by a small drydock and were very well-received by the public, with the new baths attracting 30,000 visi ...

, and the walls of his office were adorned with sketches of ships by him.

References

Sources

* Ron Palenski, Champion - New Zealand's first Olympic winner, published by the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame, 1912. * * * *

External links

Biography at New Zealand Olympic Committee website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Champion, Malcolm Swimmers from Auckland New Zealand people of Cornish descent Olympic gold medalists for Australasia Olympic swimmers of Australasia Swimmers at the 1912 Summer Olympics Norfolk Island sportspeople People from Norfolk Island Pitcairn Islands people World record setters in swimming New Zealand male freestyle swimmers Medalists at the 1912 Summer Olympics Norfolk Island people of New Zealand descent Olympic gold medalists in swimming 1882 births 1939 deaths