Swimming: Business leader at Masters Games

Mark Weldon. Photo / Mark Mitchell

One competitor at the World Masters Swimming Games in Sweden will be keeping a close eye on his Blackberry as well as his race times on the big clock at the Aquatic Centre.

Among the New Zealanders competing in Gothenburg is former Olympian Mark Weldon, current chief executive of the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX).

Weldon will be taking more than a passing interest in the NZX indexes, as well as his own lap times.

His performances in the pool so far have been very creditable.

Weldon, swimming for Mt Roskill Masters, was second in the men's 40-44 years 100m butterfly in 58.84sec and sixth in the 50m freestyle in 25.49sec.

The top Kiwi performance of the day came from Kirsten Cameron, who has been dominant in the freestyle events.

The Wellington swimmer broke her own world record in the women's 800m freestyle for 35-39 years with a superb nine minutes 01.12 seconds.

She also won the 100m freestyle in 1min 01.30sec and the 200m freestyle in 2min 08.86sec.

If you're a handy swimmer but you think you might be too old to compete in Championships like this one, think again.

Take for example the case of Mieko Nagaoka of Japan. True, she was the only competitor in her class; but that doesn't diminish the stature of her accomplishment in last night's womens 800m freestyle, for age group: 95 years and older.

Nagaoka was born the year World War One broke out, 1914. At age 82 she decided to take up a new sport - swimming.

- NZPA, NZHERALD STAFF