Norma Wilson (11 December 1909 – 10 July 2000) was a New Zealand athlete who represented New Zealand at the 1928 Summer Olympics at London. She was a sprinter, and reached third in the semifinal in the 100m race. She told the “stuffed shirt” officials when she returned that New Zealand needed a cinder track. She also refused to run in a Basin Reserve appearance unless she could wear shorts, and in no time, all the girls were wearing shorts. She married Ted Morgan a New Zealand boxer at the same Olympics in 1933, but later divorced him. She then married Rangi Marsh, a jockey and lived in Hastings.
Vernon Patrick "Pat" Boot (22 October 1914 – 5 January 1947) was a New Zealand middle distance runner from Canterbury, who represented New Zealand at the 1936 Summer Olympics at Berlin and at the 1938 British Empire Games at Sydney. At the 1936 Summer Olympics he ran in the 800 metre event, finishing last in the semi-final. He had tendon problems (like Cecil Matthews, who also had a disappointing result at Berlin) from running on the decks of the Wanganella, and withdrew from the fourth heat of the 1500 meters.At the 1938 British Empire Games he won a gold in the 880 yards with a tremendous sprint 70 yards from the end, and a bronze in the mile.He was born at Kaikoura and educated at Ashburton High School, Timaru Boys' High School and Lincoln University, where he trained for a diploma in agriculture. In World War II he was commissioned in the New Zealand Army and served overseas in the Middle East. He was an instructor in agriculture at Gisborne when he died aged 32 when under anaesthesia for dental treatment.
Rose, Randolph Arthur John Scott (1901–1989) athlete, farmer
Randolph Arthur John Scott Rose was born at Wellington on Christmas Day 1901, the son of Henry Rose, a civil servant, and his wife, Grace Gillespie. His family had a strong tradition in athletics: in 1905 his second cousin Hector Burk defeated the Englishman Alfred Shrubb, then the world's greatest runner; and Hector's father, Billy Burk, had been the New Zealand one-mile and three-mile champion. Randolph was educated in Masterton and worked on his brother's Wairarapa farm from an early age.During his 10-year running career Rose won five Australasian championships, eight New Zealand titles, and held New Zealand records for the mile, two miles (twice), and three miles (twice). His mile record defied all comers for nearly 25 years. Rose's feats created an unprecedented public following for athletics in New Zealand and inspired future generations of runners, including his cousin James Barnes, national mile champion in 1933, and his nephew Bryan Rose, who was third in the world cross-country championship in 1967.
John ("Jack") Edward Lovelock (5 January 1910 – 28 December 1949) was a New Zealand athlete, and the 1936 Olympic champion in the 1500 metres. Born in the town of Crushington (near Reefton) as the son of English immigrants, Lovelock showed a talent for sports while at Timaru Boys' High School. He studied medicine at the University of Otago, while competing for the university team in the New Zealand 1-mile (1.6 km) championships. In 1931 he became a Rhodes Scholar at Exeter College, Oxford. He graduated as a medical practitioner.In 1932 - by then holder of the British Empire record for the mile - Lovelock competed in the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and placed 7th in the final of the 1500 metres event.The following year, he set a world record of 4:07.6 in the mile when running at Princeton against its emerging champion Bill Bonthron. Later, in September, he represented New Zealand in the first World Student Games where he renewed his rivalry with the 1500m champion from Los Angeles in 1932, Luigi Beccali. Beccali edged Lovelock in the final and equalled the world record for the event. In 1934 Lovelock won the gold medal in the mile at the British Empire Games. He also lost some races, and believed that he could only make one supreme effort in a season.The highlight of Lovelock's career came in 1936, when he won the gold medal in the 1500 m at the Berlin Olympics, setting a world record in the final (3:47.8). Lovelock had plotted ever since his defeat at Los Angeles and developed a revolutionary tactic. The race is regarded as one of the finest 1500 m Olympic finals and included one of the finest fields assembled. The final was a culmination of the first great era of mile running from 1932-36 in which the world records for the 1500m and mile were broken several times. Apart from Lovelock and the American mile world record holder Glenn Cunningham who broke Lovelock's record a year later in 1934, also at Princeton, Bonthron, the 1932 Olympic Games 1500m champion at Los Angeles, Luigi Beccali and the emerging English champion Sydney Wooderson raced in Berlin. Bonthron, who held the world 1500m record, failed to make the US team, while Wooderson was found to have a fracture in his ankle and missed the final. The silver medalist in Los Angeles, John 'Jerry' Cornes also raced in Berlin along with the Swedish champion Erik Ny and the outstanding Canadian athlete Phil Edwards and another American Gene Venzke, who had been regarded as the favourite for the 1932 title until injury denied him a place in the US team. In the final, Lovelock beat Glenn Cunningham, who came in second, by making the unprecedented break from 300 m out. Lovelock had been regarded as a sprinter in the home straight but cleverly disguised his plan and caught his opponents napping with a brilliantly-timed move. Cunningham, who also broke the world record in the race, was considered by many to be the greatest American miler of all time. Beccali was third. Lovelock, who was the captain of the New Zealand Olympic team, despite having lived in Britain as a Rhodes Scholar since 1931, raced once more for the British Commonwealth after Berlin and his last race was back at Princeton en route to a Government-sponsored trip to New Zealand where he was beaten by another of the Olympic finalists Archie San Romani. Lovelock maintained his interest in athletics until at least the outbreak of the Second World War as a newspaper contributor
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