Ngaire Lane

Ngaire Galloway JP (née Lane, born 31 October 1925) is a former New Zealand swimmer, who represented her country at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.

Born in Cambridge in 1925,^[1] Galloway was educated at Otago Girls' High School.^[2] In 1940 she was the New Zealand junior champion in 50 and 100 yards freestyle and 50 yards backstroke, equalling the national junior record in the latter event. In 1943 she broke the national intermediate 100 yards backstroke record, and the following year she broke the national senior record for 220 yards backstroke, thus becoming the first female swimmer to hold junior, intermediate and senior national records concurrently. She was the national champion for the 100 yards and 220 yards backstroke every year from 1944 to 1949, and in 1947 she also won the 100 yards medley and 50 yards freestyle titles.^[1]

Galloway travelled to London in 1948 as the only swimmer and only woman on the New Zealand team at the Olympic Games. Before the games, she swam in the British amateur championships, winning the 100 m backstroke title.^[1] At the Olympics, she reached the semi-finals of the 100 metres backstroke, where she finished seventh in a time of 1:19.0.^[3] At the conclusion of the Olympic swim meet, Galloway was part of an Australasian team that finished third in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay at the Continental Relay Gala.^[1]

The last surviving member of the 1948 New Zealand Olympic team, Galloway is New Zealand's oldest living Olympian.^[4] In 2011 she was inducted into Nelson's Legends of Sport.^[5]

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