Rhodesia at the 1960 Summer Paralympics
Encyclopedia
Rhodesia
competed at the inaugural Summer Paralympic Games in 1960
in Rome
. It was the only Africa
n country to take part. Rhodesia fielded the joint smallest delegation. Like Finland
and Ireland, it sent only one competitor: Margaret Harriman, who competed in archery and swimming.
Harriman won a total of five medals, placing her country 11th out of 17 on the medal table
. She took gold in both the archery events she participated in, and won a silver medal and two bronze in swimming.
.
In the women's FITA round open
, she faced two British archers: Comley (first name not recorded) and R. Irvine. With 962 points, ahead of Comley's 534 and Irvine's 494, she finished in a very comfortable first place, to become Rhodesia's first Paralympic champion.
In the women's Windsor round open
, she took on the same two competitors and emerged victorious with a comfortable lead: 726 points, to Irvine's 533 and Comley's 468.
Just like all other events at the 1960 Paralympics, swimming races were held with no more than three swimmers per event, thereby guaranteeing a medal to every swimmer completing his or her race. Harriman entered three 50m races in the incomplete class 4.
In the backstroke, she swam against the German Zander and the Argentinian Djukich. Zander won by a large margin, in 54.3s, while Djukich (1:35.9) outswam Harriman (1:46.2) for second place. In the breaststroke, Zander also won comfortably (1:05.0), but the race for second place was tighter. Edwards of Great Britain took silver in 1:55.6, while Harriman finished third and last in 1:58.9. She was more successful in the crawl. Though she was more than twenty seconds slower than Zander, who claimed gold in 50.5s, her time of 1:10.8 was well ahead of Argentinian swimmer Galan's 1:38.6, enabling her to claim silver.
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
competed at the inaugural Summer Paralympic Games in 1960
1960 Summer Paralympics
The 1960 Summer Paralympics, originally known as the 9th Annual International Stoke Mandeville Games, were the first international Paralympic Games, following on from the Stoke Mandeville Games of 1948 and 1952. They were organised under the aegis of the International Stoke Mandeville Games...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. It was the only Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n country to take part. Rhodesia fielded the joint smallest delegation. Like Finland
Finland at the 1960 Summer Paralympics
Finland competed at the inaugural Summer Paralympic Games in 1960 in Rome. Like Rhodesia and Ireland, it sent only one competitor: swimmer Tauno Valkama...
and Ireland, it sent only one competitor: Margaret Harriman, who competed in archery and swimming.
Harriman won a total of five medals, placing her country 11th out of 17 on the medal table
1960 Summer Paralympics medal table
The 1960 Summer Paralympics medal table is a list of National Paralympic Committees ranked by the number of gold medals won by their athletes during the 1960 Summer Paralympics , held in Rome, Italy, from September 18 to 25, 1960.Due to there being no more than three competitors per event, every...
. She took gold in both the archery events she participated in, and won a silver medal and two bronze in swimming.
Medallists
| Medal | Name | Sport | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| Margaret Harriman | Archery Archery at the 1960 Summer Paralympics Archery at the 1960 Summer Paralympics consisted of eight archery events, four for men and four for women.- Medal summary :... |
Women's FITA round open Archery at the 1960 Summer Paralympics – Women's FITA round open The Women's FITA round open was one of the events held in archery at the 1960 Summer Paralympics in Rome.There were only three competitors - representing Great Britain and Rhodesia. Rhodesia's Margaret Harriman scored 962 points to win gold with a crushing lead over her two British opponents.... |
|
| Margaret Harriman | Archery | Women's Windsor round open Archery at the 1960 Summer Paralympics – Women's Windsor round open The Women's Windsor round open was one of the events held in archery at the 1960 Summer Paralympics in Rome.There were only three competitors - representing Great Britain and Rhodesia. As in the FITA round, Rhodesia's Margaret Harriman won a clear victory over British archers Irvine and Comley .... |
|
| Margaret Harriman | Swimming Swimming at the 1960 Summer Paralympics Swimming at the 1960 Summer Paralympics consisted of 62 events, 32 for men and 30 for women.There were between one and three competitors for each race, meaning that every swimmer completing a race was guaranteed a medal. All swimmers successfully completed their races, and every swimmer at the... |
Women's 50 metre crawl incomplete class 4 | |
| Margaret Harriman | Swimming | Women's 50 metre backstroke incomplete class 4 | |
| Margaret Harriman | Swimming | Women's 50 metre breaststroke incomplete class 4 |
Archery
Harriman's strongest event was archery. She won gold in both the events she entered, and would go on to repeat the same performance at the 1964 Games1964 Summer Paralympics
The 1964 Summer Paralympics, originally known as the 13th International Stoke Mandeville Games, were the 2nd Paralympic Games to be held. They were held in Tokyo, Japan, they were the last Summer Paralympics to take place in the same city as the Summer Olympics until the 1988 Summer Paralympics...
.
In the women's FITA round open
Archery at the 1960 Summer Paralympics – Women's FITA round open
The Women's FITA round open was one of the events held in archery at the 1960 Summer Paralympics in Rome.There were only three competitors - representing Great Britain and Rhodesia. Rhodesia's Margaret Harriman scored 962 points to win gold with a crushing lead over her two British opponents....
, she faced two British archers: Comley (first name not recorded) and R. Irvine. With 962 points, ahead of Comley's 534 and Irvine's 494, she finished in a very comfortable first place, to become Rhodesia's first Paralympic champion.
In the women's Windsor round open
Archery at the 1960 Summer Paralympics – Women's Windsor round open
The Women's Windsor round open was one of the events held in archery at the 1960 Summer Paralympics in Rome.There were only three competitors - representing Great Britain and Rhodesia. As in the FITA round, Rhodesia's Margaret Harriman won a clear victory over British archers Irvine and Comley ....
, she took on the same two competitors and emerged victorious with a comfortable lead: 726 points, to Irvine's 533 and Comley's 468.
Swimming
Just like all other events at the 1960 Paralympics, swimming races were held with no more than three swimmers per event, thereby guaranteeing a medal to every swimmer completing his or her race. Harriman entered three 50m races in the incomplete class 4.In the backstroke, she swam against the German Zander and the Argentinian Djukich. Zander won by a large margin, in 54.3s, while Djukich (1:35.9) outswam Harriman (1:46.2) for second place. In the breaststroke, Zander also won comfortably (1:05.0), but the race for second place was tighter. Edwards of Great Britain took silver in 1:55.6, while Harriman finished third and last in 1:58.9. She was more successful in the crawl. Though she was more than twenty seconds slower than Zander, who claimed gold in 50.5s, her time of 1:10.8 was well ahead of Argentinian swimmer Galan's 1:38.6, enabling her to claim silver.