Youth Olympic Games athlete Gina Galloway has paid a special visit to her Olympian grandmother, Ngaire Galloway, in Nelson.
17-year-old Gina (Auckland Diocesan School for Girls) lives in Auckland and today (21/09/18) flew to Nelson to visit her 92-year-old grandmother, who is New Zealand’s oldest living Olympian.
Ngaire competed in swimming at the London 1948 Olympic Games, with Gina due to follow in the family footsteps 70 years later, and compete in the pool at next month’s Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires.
The pair are both backstroke specialists with Galloway senior inspiring her granddaughter to take up the sport.
“Growing up listening to her stories from her experiences and trips in swimming and the friends she's made through the sport all over the world has been really inspiring for me,” said Gina Galloway.
“It’s been so special to come here today and see Nana Ngaire. My love of swimming came naturally and our shared bond over swimming is great and has motivated me to keep swimming."
Ngaire offered words of encouragement to Gina ahead of the Youth Olympic Games.
“I'm so proud of Gina. She's got more of a killer instinct than me so I'm sure she'll do better than I ever did. She trains hard and is a great young lady. She's also a beautiful swimmer and I just love watching her in the water."
“It's been so lovely having her here today and I'm going to watch on my ipad as she competes in Buenos Aires,” said Galloway Senior.
Ngaire Galloway was the only woman in the 1948 New Zealand Olympic team. The athletes took a boat to the Games in London and Ngaire trained on the deck with weights and pulleys during the 6 week voyage. She competed in the women’s 100m backstroke finishing 11th overall.
Gina Galloway won a bronze medal at the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games. She will compete in the women’s 50m, 100m, 200m backstroke and 100m butterfly events at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games which run from October 6th-18th.
Tweet Share
