Ngaire Galloway (née Lane, 31 October 1925 – 9 July 2021) was a New Zealand swimmer, who represented her country at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

in London.

Early life

Galloway was born Ngaire Lane in Cambridge on 31 October 1925, the daughter of Mabel Doris Lane (née Saxby) and William George Lane. She was educated at

Otago Girls' High School , motto_translation = The Right Education Makes The Heart As Strong As Oak , type = State , grades = 9 - 13 , grades_label = Years , gender = Girls-only , established = ; years ago , address = 41 Tennyson Street ...

Swimming career

In 1940, Lane 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. 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 100 yards backstroke and won the event. At the Olympics, she reached the semi-finals of the 100 m backstroke, where she finished seventh in a time of 1:19.0. 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.

Later life and death

On 21 May 1949, Lane married Kenneth Miller Galloway—a medical student at the University of Otago—in Thames, and the couple moved to Nelson the following year. The couple went on to have five children. Ken Galloway died in 2007. Ngaire Galloway was appointed as a

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

in 1980, and as a marriage celebrant in 1983. She served as a member of the Nelson College board of trustees, and was the first woman to be president of the Nelson Tasman Justice of the Peace Association. In 2011, she was inducted into Nelson's Legends of Sport. Galloway's granddaughter, Gina Galloway, won a bronze medal in the 100 m backstroke at the

2017 Commonwealth Youth Games The 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games, officially known as the VI Commonwealth Youth Games, and commonly known as Bahamas 2017, or Nassau 2017, was the sixth edition of the Commonwealth Youth Games which started in 2000. The games were held from 19 to ...

and competed at the

2018 Summer Youth Olympics The 2018 Summer Youth Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de la Juventud de 2018), officially known as the III Summer Youth Olympic Games, and commonly known as Buenos Aires 2018, were an international sports, cultural, and educational event held ...

. Galloway died in Nelson on 9 July 2021, aged 95. She was the last surviving member of the 1948 New Zealand Olympic team.

Honorific eponym

in 1996, the Nelson City Council named a pedestrian walkway and street, adjacent to the city's Riverside Pool, Ngaire Lane and Ngaire Place, respectively, in Galloway's honour.

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, Ngaire 1925 births 2021 deaths Olympic swimmers for New Zealand People educated at Otago Girls' High School Sportspeople from Cambridge, New Zealand Swimmers at the 1948 Summer Olympics New Zealand justices of the peace New Zealand female swimmers Sportspeople from Nelson, New Zealand