Malcolm Champion
| Personal information | ||||||||||
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| Birth name | Malcolm Eadie Champion | |||||||||
| Born | 10 November 1882 Norfolk Island |
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| Died |
26 July 1939 (aged 56) Auckland, New Zealand |
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| Sport | ||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||
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Medal record
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Malcolm Eadie Champion (10 November 1882 – 26 July 1939) was New Zealand's first Olympic gold medallist, and the first swimmer to represent New Zealand at an Olympic Games. He won a gold medal in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay at the 1912 Summer Olympics in , Sweden as part of a combined team with Australia, competing as Australasia.
Champion was born in 1882 in Norfolk Island (now an Australian territory but then a British colony). He moved to New Zealand as a teenager. His mother, Sarah Clara Quintal, descended from the Bounty mutineer Matthew Quintal. His father Captain William Nhill Champion was a sea captain who traded around the Pacific. Malcolm later worked on his father's ships and by the end of the 19th century was living in Auckland. He died on 26 July 1939 in Auckland, New Zealand.
Between 1901 and 1914, Champion won thirty-two New Zealand national titles, at one point holding the titles for every distance between 220 yards (200 m) and one mile (1.6 km). Champion was suspended at the end of 1902 by the national swimming association for failing to pay registration fees and was allowed to re-enter the sport in the southern summer of 1907-08. His suspension has often wrongly been called a life ban for professionalism. In 1911 he was the long-distance champion of England on the Thames. He had also represented Australasia at the 1911 Festival of Empire at The Crystal Palace, an early forerunner to the Commonwealth Games, where he pulled out of the mile race.
Due to the financial difficulties faced by the New Zealand Olympic Committee, his swimming club had to fundraise for him and organize loans so he could travel to the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. At the Olympics, Champion carried the flag for the Australasian team. Champion was originally slated to compete in the 400 m and 1500 m freestyle events. He finished second in his 400 m heat behind Harold Hardwick and before finishing fourth in his semi-final to be eliminated. In the 1500 m event, he placed second in both his heat and semifinal, before abandoning in the final after 600 m.
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