1930 British Empire Games Participation Medal

This medal was presented to Gladys Eileen Pidgeon (1906 − 2002), a champion swimmer who was the sole female member of New Zealand's 1930 British Empire Games team. The inaugural British Empire Games took place from 16-23 August, 1930 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It included six sports and attracted 400 competitors from 11 countries.

Pidgeon, who had worked as a clerk at Milne & Choyce department store since she was 14, was the New Zealand 220 yards breast stroke champion from 1925 and 1931, with the exception of 1929 when she came second to Lily Copplestone. In 1930, she won a place on the the New Zealand team that travelled to the first British Empire Games in Hamilton, Canada. She was the only female selected.

As Peter Kitchen wrote in her obituary, 'being named in the team, however, proved problematic. The impediment was the government's unwillingness to have a single woman on the team because it would require the additional expense of a chaperone' (1). Pidgeon was only allowed on the team after her mother, Jane, agreed to pay her own way in order to chaperone her daughter.

Although recording a personal best at the 1930 Empire Games, she finished sixth in the final of the 200 yards breast stroke, which was won by Cecelia Wolstenholme of England in world-record time. Both Wolstenholme and the second place winner were teenagers. Pidgeon recalls being stunned by their youth, and also by the number of coaches, managers, medical staff and masseurs in attendance of the other teams. On her return, she pleaded with the New Zealand swimming authorities to get people into the sport earlier (2). New Zealand won three gold, four silver and two bronze medals at the games.

References

1. Peter Kitchen, 'First Kiwi Woman at Empire Games', The Dominion Post, 28 November 2002, B7.

2. ibid.