Jean Stewart (swimmer)
 Stewart in 1954 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth name | Jean Stewart | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 23 December 1930 Dunedin, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Education | Otago Girls' High School | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Relatives | Gary Hurring (son) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||||
| National finals | 100 yds backstroke: 1st (1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1956) 220 yds backstroke: 1st (1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954) 100 yds butterfly: 1st (1953)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Jean Hurring (née Stewart, born 23 December 1930) is a former swimmer from New Zealand. She won a bronze medal in the 100 m backstroke at the 1952 Olympics.
Biography
Born in Dunedin in 1930,[2] Stewart was educated at Otago Girls' High School.[3] When she was active as a swimmer, New Zealand had no swimming coach, and Stewart was mentored by Bill Wallace, who she describes as an "enthusiast". Wallace had an interest in horse racing and from that, Stewart adopted interval training as an innovation. She had also set up a pulley system in her bedroom for weight training that was specific to swimming.[4] She represented her native country at two consecutive Summer Olympics, 1952 and 1956. In 1952 she won the bronze medal in the women's 100 metres backstroke at the Helsinki Games.[5] She shared a room in Helsinki with the only other New Zealand female competitor, Yvette Williams, who was also from Dunedin.[4]
Stewart also won medals in the 110 yards backstroke at the Empire Games; silver in 1950 and bronze in 1954. As of 2016, she remains to be the only New Zealand woman to have won an Olympic swimming medal.[4]
Stewart married fellow Dunedin swimmer Lincoln Hurring after the Helsinki Games, and they settled in Auckland.[6] Their son is world silver medalist swimmer Gary Hurring.[4] As of 2016, Hurring lives in a retirement village in Takapuna on Auckland's North Shore.[4] Her son keeps her Olympic medal.[4]
Stewart is one of the eight New Zealand pool swimmers who have been inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame; the ninth inductee, Barrie Devenport, is an ocean swimmer. Stewart is the only pool swimmer inducted who has not won a gold medal at either the Olympics or at Commonwealth Games. Her son is one of the other inductees.[7]
See also
References
- ^ McLintock, A.H., ed. (1966). "Swimming—national championships". An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|editorlink=ignored (|editor-link=suggested) (help) - ^ "Jean Hurring". New Zealand Olympic Committee. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
- ^ McMurran, Alistair (20 November 2009). "Otago Girls High School honours its Olympians". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f Rattue, Chris (11 August 2016). "Rio Olympics 2016: Barracking for Boyle". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Jean Stewart". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
- ^ McMurran, Alistair (29 October 2011). "Greatest moments in Otago sport - Number 13". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
- ^ McBeth, John (9 July 2013). "Swimming - Great swimmers". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
External links
- Jean Stewart at Olympics.com
- Photo of Jean Stewart and Lincoln Hurring before they left for the 1952 Olympics
- 1930 births
- Living people
- Swimmers from Dunedin
- People educated at Otago Girls' High School
- New Zealand female swimmers
- Female backstroke swimmers
- Olympic swimmers of New Zealand
- Swimmers at the 1952 Summer Olympics
- Swimmers at the 1956 Summer Olympics
- Olympic bronze medalists for New Zealand
- Olympic bronze medalists in swimming
- Swimmers at the 1950 British Empire Games
- Swimmers at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
- Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand
- Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for New Zealand
- Commonwealth Games competitors for New Zealand
- Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics
- Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming