The Best Don't Show

By David

If you type “Toni Jeffs, New Zealand” into Google and go to the eighth item on page two you will find an article written by Joseph Romanos. It was published when Romanos worked for the New Zealand Listener; a magazine that was all the better for his presence. However the magazine’s new editor, a woman called Pamela Stirling, fired Romanos and replaced him with someone called Paul Lewis, whose writing is at best sporting froth compared to the substance provided by Romanos. I taught Stirling’s son to swim and understand that her knowledge of things sporting is pretty limited; a view confirmed by her selection of Lewis ahead of the erudite Romanos.

In this particular article Romanos discusses the fate of athletes who have missed selection for Olympic Games’ teams. In particular he highlights the Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe, the New Zealand freestyler Toni Jeffs and the American hurdler Harrison Dillard. While it may be necessary for the USA to have strict selection criteria, Romanos argues that New Zealand and Australia need to be more flexible. In his last paragraph he says, “New Zealand and Australia aren’t the US. Competitors good enough for the Olympics should be selected. Poor rules should not exclude them.”

I agree with the Romanos’ view. A number of fine New Zealand Olympic results have been achieved by athletes who were “not-good-enough” to be on the team. Norman Reid who won the 50km walk in 1956 and Peter Snell who won the track 800m in 1960 could both be said to be in that category.

Whether Jeffs could have been another we will never know. I see her swimming career has come to an end. The Dominion Post reports that “Mr Garlick, 54, and his partner Toni Jeffs, 38, a former Kiwi representative swimmer, have a four-week-old son … Toni has finished swimming and we haven’t got a lot of ties here now.”

I was responsible for Jeffs’ coaching from 1989 to 1995. In that time she competed in the Barcelona Olympic Games, she won bronze medals at the Pan Pacific Games and the World Cup finals (today called the World Short Course Championships), she was fourth and sixth in two Commonwealth Games and second in the first Oceania Swimming Championships. Since then she has been third in two Commonwealth Games and has missed selection for the Atlanta, Sydney and Athens Olympic Games.

Prior to 1995 Jeffs career owed much to generous patrons, Arthur Lydiard and Brian LeGros. Track coaching legend, Arthur Lydiard, contributed the training principles I used to guide Jeffs’ training. White House strip club owner and gentleman, Brian LeGros, provided a bucket-full of money.

Lydiard invested hours of his time working on the conversion of his track training to swimming and in particular sprint swimming. Appropriate aerobic, anaerobic and speed training were carefully calculated, tested and confirmed. Every week, almost every day, for three years, at an average cost of around $400 a month we discussed Jeffs training. Lydiard later recorded our association in his biography, “Arthur Lydiard, Master Coach”. Get yourself a copy, it’s an interesting read. Mistakes were made and were always acknowledged. I have no doubt that the longevity and successes of Jeffs’ career owe much to the meticulous conditioning inspired and guided by the world’s authority on that subject.

LeGros’ money was hard earned and was a financial life-line. I recorded the following appreciation of his willing support in my first book, “Swim to the Top”.

“Brian has financed Toni, Nichola Chellingworth and me with considerable money and has asked for nothing in return. His business might not be to everyone’s liking but his compassion and care for me and my swimmers has been unstinting and often unheralded; as has his financing of Disneyland visits for terminally-ill children, his provision of free accommodation for mothers and children stranded during an inter-island ferry strike and his weekly visits to Porirua Hospital with sweets and cigarettes for a mentally-disturbed young man. He could show his detractors the true meaning of charity. A fine and generouos man. I count myself lucky to have been his friend.”

The contribution of these two men may not be well understood. The fact one was primarily a track coach and the other worked in a “leper” industry may have contributed to their exclusion. Perhaps and hopefully this article will partially redress any inequity and provide some deserved and overdue recognition.