The New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) recently recovered the country’s first Olympic gold medal, which was originally won by swimmer Malcolm Champion at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden.
Champion originally won the medal as a member of the joint Australasian 4x200m freestyle relay team alongside Australians Harold Hardwick, Cecil Healy and Les Boardman. Notably, the team finished in a time of 10:11.6, which stood as a world record at the time. It was also the last time that Australia and New Zealand competed as a joint Australasian team at the Olympic Games.
Though that medal was the only Olympic medal of Champion’s career, he was one of the most dominant swimmers of his time, winning New Zealand National Titles in every distance from the 200m freestyle up to the mile. In 1990, he was inducted to the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.
Champion’s medal stood at New Zealand’s only Olympic gold medal in swimming until Danyon Loader won the 200m freestyle and 400m freestyle at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
The medal was reportedly donated to the New Zealand Olympic Committee from an Australian donor, whose family was given the medal by Champion’s family back in the 1940s.
NZOC chief executive Nicki Nicol spoke on the donation, noting the historical significance of the medal, especially with the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on the horizon, “We’re extremely pleased to have recovered such a significant and special treasure from New Zealand’s sporting past.”
According to Nicol, the medal will travel to Paris with the New Zealand Olympic Team this summer and will remain with the team in the Olympic village. Afterwards, the NZOC is planning on displaying the medal at the country’s Sports Hall of Fame for public viewing.
