New Zealand’s First Ever Olympic Gold Medal Recovered

The New Zealand Olympic Committee is excited to announce it has recovered the country’s first ever Olympic gold medal, won by swimmer Malcolm Champion at the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games. 

The medal has been gifted in private, to the New Zealand Olympic Committee, by an Australian donor whose family was gifted the medal by Champion’s family in approximately the 1940s. Their wishes were for this medal to be returned to Aotearoa for all New Zealand to enjoy its significance in our rich sporting history.

NZOC CEO Nicki Nicol says the medal is an extremely special part of New Zealand’s sporting history and will be a taonga for the New Zealand Team.

“We’re extremely pleased to have recovered such a significant and special treasure from New Zealand’s sporting past,” said Nicol.

“We’re extremely thankful to both the donor, and members of  Malcolm Champion’s wider whanau, who we’ve met with, and who are thrilled it has been recovered and will be shared with all of New Zealand."

The medal will travel to future Olympic Games with the New Zealand Team, including the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic Games. It was be displayed in the New Zealand section of the Olympic Village alongside other precious New Zealand Team taonga, including the team kakahu (cloaks) and mauri stone. These treasures are part of the legacy elements that support and shape the important culture of Manaaki that serves to connect all our athletes in the New Zealand Team.

The New Zealand Olympic Committee also intends to put the medal on display, so the New Zealand public can also enjoy the piece of sporting history and have made enquiries of the new Sports Hall of Fame, as it is the intent this treasure is shared as an inspiration for all New Zealanders.

The medal is 33mm in diameter, made of gold and gilt silver and was presented to Champion by King Gustaf V of Sweden. On the front, two female figures place a laurel crown on the head of a victorious athlete. On the back, a herald proclaiming the opening of the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games stands alongside a statue of the host country’s physical education pioneer Per Henrik Ling.

“It’s a beautiful medal and we look forward to sharing it with our New Zealand Team and the wider New Zealand public,” said Nicol.

Champion won the medal aged 28, as part of the Australasian 4 x 200m freestyle relay team at Stockholm 1912. It was the last Olympic Games at which Australia and New Zealand competed as a combined team.

In the relay, Champion teamed with Australian’s Harold Hardwick, Cecil Healy and Les Boardman. The quartet lined up in the final against the United States, Britain, Germany and Hungary.

Healy led off with a leg of 2min 31.4s, and touched level with the American, McGillivray. Champion swam right up to his best to clock 2min 33.5s and send Boardman away with a 10-metre advantage. Boardman swam 2min 35s and Hardwick was then left with the task of holding off the great Hawaiian swimmer Duke Kahanamoku, who had earlier won the 100m.

Kahanamoku drew level with Hardwick at the halfway mark, but the Australian's stamina held and he pulled away. The Australasian team won by eight seconds in 10min 11.6s, which was listed as a world record.

The medal was yesterday on display for New Zealand’s swimming athletes as they prepared to depart for their pre-Games training camps. 

“It’s amazing and definitely inspiring to see such a cool part of New Zealand’s sporting history,” said Olympic debutant Hazel Ouwehand.

“It’s a great reminder of how enduring the Olympics are and the rich legacy that we all are a part of.”

The NZOC again extends its thanks to the donor of the medal and the relatives of Malcolm Champion.
 
Malcolm Champion Bio 

The aptly-named Champion won his gold medal at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, when he was aged 28, as part of the Australasian 4 x 200m freestyle relay team. It was the last Olympics at which Australia and New Zealand competed as a combined team.

Champion was born in 1883 on Norfolk Island, where his father, Walter, was a sea captain who traded around the Pacific. The Champion family moved to Auckland in 1897, by which time Malcolm, the oldest son, was serving on his father's ship.

Though he was tall and powerful and was a strong swimmer, it took him a while to adapt to competitive swimming. He had done all his swimming in lagoons and in the open sea and had to learn the arts of starting and turning.

His first national championship was at Christchurch in 1901, when he caused a sensation by cleaning up every freestyle title from 100 yards to the mile.

At the 1908 nationals, held on Napier's Westshore in open water, Champion won the 100, 220, 440, 880 yards and mile. In all, Champion won New Zealand titles over 100 yards (five times), 220 yards (seven), 440 yards (seven), the half-mile (six) and the mile (six). He reduced the national 100 yards record from 1min 09.8s to 1min 01s, and was the only New Zealander of his era to even approach the magic one-minute barrier. Some of his records lasted several decades.

His great year, of course, was 1912. Again he made a clean sweep of the national freestyle titles, earning selection in the Australasian Olympic team and was the Australasian team's flag-bearer during the Olympic opening ceremony.

He competed in the 400m, 1500m and relay at Stockholm. In his 400m heat, he finished second to Australian swim king Harold Hardwick. This put the New Zealander into the semi-finals, where he was drawn against two Australians, Hardwick and Cecil Healy, Bela von Las Torres of Hungary and the British swimmer, Taylor. Champion finished fourth and just missed making the final.

In the 1500m, he swam comfortably in his heat and his second placing (behind Las Torres) qualified him for the final. The five finalists were George Hodgson, the 18-year-old Canadian who had already won the 400m, Jack Hatfield of Britain, Hardwick, Champion and Las Torres. The New Zealander found the early pace too torrid and retired after 800 metres, as did the Hungarian.

In the relay, Champion teamed with Australians Hardwick, Healy and Les Boardman. The quartet won their heat from Germany in the fastest qualifying time and lined up in the final against the United States, Britain, Germany and Hungary.

Healy led off with a leg of 2min 31.4s, and touched level with the American, McGillivray. Champion swam right up to his best to clock 2min 33.5s and send Boardman away with a 10-metre advantage. Boardman swam 2min 35s and Hardwick was then left with the task of holding off the great Hawaiian swimmer Duke Kahanamoku, who had earlier won the 100m.

Kahanamoku drew level with Hardwick at the halfway mark, but the Australian's stamina told and he pulled away. The Australasian team won by eight seconds in 10min 11.6s, which was listed as a world record.

Champion was 28, and until 2008 the oldest swimmer to represent New Zealand at an Olympics. After the Olympics, Champion toured Europe with the Australasian team, swimming in Gothenburg, Kiel, Stockholm, Berlin and Paris.

Champion continued to dominate the New Zealand swimming scene for the next six years. At his last national champs, in Blenheim, in 1914, he again swept all five freestyle titles.

By the time he pulled out of competitive swimming, at the age of 31, he had won 31 national titles, which still puts him high on the list of most national titles won.

After his retirement, Champion was for many years the genial custodian of Auckland's Tepid Baths, where the walls of his office were brightened with his sketches of ships. During the years he lived on the North Shore, he frequently swam home from work across the Waitemata Harbour.

He involved himself heavily in coaching. Later Champion coached national champions such as Noel Crump, Bob Frankham, Edna Rainey, Sylvia Grange, Judith Webster and Jim Magee. His daughter, Edna, was also a leading swimmer.

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