The speed has slowed but the passion for swimming is just as strong as it's always been for Empire Games veteran Roger Gibbs, of Masterton..
Over 55 years have passed since a fresh-faced teenager from Canterbury mounted the starting blocks to compete in the 110 yards backstroke final at the 1950 British Empire Games in Auckland but Roger is still up early most mornings putting in the hard yards at the rec centre pools.
Now 72, he has been relegated to the slow lane where there are no stopwatches, and he doesn't mind it a bit.
Turn the clock back to his young days though and Roger was a dual title- holder and a New Zealand record holder, becoming an officially world rated swimmer.
At the Empire Games he finished sixth in the final but was denied a chance to swim in the Helsinki Olympics two years later because the old pool he trained in wasn't covered and he couldn't winter train.
Roger swam at a time when competitive swimming in New Zealand was perhaps at its strongest.
He was several times pitted against Lincoln Hurring ? and beat him.
Hurring went on to swim for New Zealand both at Helsinki and the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne. He won a swimming scholarship to the United States where he won many college titles and the United States National Open backstroke title.
Hurring married Jean Stewart, a swimming bronze medallist at Helsinki, and the couple's son Gary won a silver medal at the World Championships in Berlin in 1978, gold in the 1978 Commonwealth Games 200m backstroke and was named New Zealand Sportsman of the Year at age 17.
Roger worked as a wool buyer and later as an insurance company manager before retiring and moving from Wellington to Masterton.
He is unashamedly a fan of the new recreation centre
"It's a wonderful asset for Masterton to have."
Roger swims for fitness and pleasure but the old competitive spirit is not completely dead.
He swam in the World Masters Games in Christchurch, finishing in 14th place from the 100 or so swimmers in his age group.
Passion for swimming still strong
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.