Swimming: Mystery gift buys dad moment to treasure

By ANNE BESTON and CATHERINE MASTERS

A mystery benefactor paid for Liz van Welie's father to be in the stands cheering her on as she swam away with a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games.

The 22-year-old swimmer's father, Dick, was proud and happy when she saw him after her swim in the 400m individual medley.

"He was really thrilled, just stoked," she said.

Mr van Welie had planned to watch his daughter compete on television because he could not afford to go to England.

But a customer at his Silver Dollar Restaurant in Alexandra learned Liz was his daughter and offered to help.

He asked Mr van Welie for his bank account number and deposited $10,000 into it last month.

The swimmer learned of her father's good luck through news reports.

"I think it was fantastic whoever did it, just great," she said.

But her coach, Duncan Laing, the man who helped to steer Danyon Loader to two Olympic gold medals, had to be content with watching her on television because of health and financial reasons.

"She's so like Danyon Loader - hop in, he would do the programme. She's exactly the same and anybody who gets in the way, you've no idea, she'll just swim over the top, she just goes."

Liz van Welie has also benefited from others' generosity. The Alexandra community raised $10,000 to get her to Flagstaff, Arizona, for important pre-Games altitude training.

Mr Laing said that work definitely paid.

But she will need more help to achieve her next goal - gold at the Athens Olympics. At present she receives a Prime Minister's scholarship that pays her university fees and she also gets a Skeggs Foundation grant, but Mr Laing said competitive opportunities overseas and use of modern training equipment were a must in any Olympic buildup.

The swimmer said her success at Manchester had not quite sunk in - "I guess it will probably hit me on the plane home."

Having both parents poolside - her mother, Ruth, also flew over for the Games - was not the only luck the young swimmer has had.

She now has a new car after being voted, along with diver Charlotte Glynan, "most deserving athlete" at the Games in a promotion run by Holden.

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