New Zealand Officials Selected for FINA Committee

Swimming New Zealand is pleased to announce that six New Zealanders have been selected for FINA Swimming Committees, decided at last week’s World Championships in Spain.

Lesley Huckins and Ian Hunt have been elected to the Technical Swimming Committee and Ethics Panel, while David Gerrard, Roger Eagles, Sue Edwards, and John West have been re-elected for further four year terms in their respective committees. 

Huckins (Christchurch) has been newly appointed to the FINA Technical Swimming Committee. She has an extensive officiating background which includes representation at five world championship events, as well as the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games and 2008 Beijing Olympics. She has been a member of the SNZ Technical Advisory Committee since 2005 and was awarded the Swimming New Zealand Technical Official of the Year in both 2011 and 2012.

West (Auckland) has been involved in swimming for over 40 years as a competitor, administrator and official at all levels of the sport. He has been an active contributor to FINA’s Technical Open Water Swimming Committee since 2009 and since that time he has been responsible for supervising a number of competitions as a FINA delegate. He has also conducted officials training seminars on behalf of FINA in several Pacific Island countries over a number of years, covering swimming and/or open water swimming in Guam, Northern Marianas, Fiji, Tahiti, Saipan, New Caledonia, and Samoa.

Eagles, from Invercargill, has been a member of masters swimming since 1983. He was the Chairman of Sport Southland from 2008 to 2012 and was appointed as a member of the FINA Masters Technical Committee in 2009. This year he has been re-elected for another four year term. He has held the position as Chairman of Aquatics New Zealand since 2006 as well as being the President of NZ Masters Swimming from 2006 to 2011.

Gerrard is no stranger to swimming having attended nine Summer Olympics as an athlete, team physician, New Zealand Chef de Mission and FINA medical delegate. He has been re-elected in 2013 as the Vice-Chair of the FINA Sports Medicine Committee, having served FINA in a medical role since 1986 at World Championships and Olympic Games continuously. In 2000 he was awarded the FINA Gold Pin for his services to aquatic sport and in 2007 he was honoured with the Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to medicine and sport.

Hunt, a Swimming New Zealand Board member, has been newly elected to the FINA Ethics Panel. He has been a specialist sports lawyer since 1999, acting for diverse sporting organisations as well as individual and team competitors within a variety of sports including ski racing, track cycling, mountain biking, surfing, swimming, rugby league, netball, cricket, and motor sport – to name a few. His particular interest and expertise is in the governance of sporting organisations, anti-doping, ethical issues, and selection issues.

Edwards, has been re-elected to the Technical Synchronised Swimming Committee after a lifetime involvement with the sport. She began competing in her mid-teens before moving on to a coaching role and then judging and administration. She is the president of Synchro Swim New Zealand and has officiated at all levels of the sport, including numerous World Championships, Olympic Games, and Commonwealth Games events.   

Swimming New Zealand CEO Christian Renford is pleased with New Zealand’s representation on the various FINA committees.

 “It is important in our development as a swimming nation to have world class officials and we are delighted that this group have been recognised by FINA,” Renford said.

“Their experience on FINA committees will also filter back through the system in New Zealand and play a part in the on-going development of our officials.”