Jaynie Parkhouse's swimming career was brief compared to many leading New Zealand sportsmen and women. She swam at international level for barely four years. But if her peak was fleeting, it was certainly memorable.

When Parkhouse, a 17-year-old Christchurch schoolgirl, won the 800m gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in her home town in 1974, she provided New Zealand with a fabulous sporting moment. She beat world record-holder Jenny Turrall and a host of other big-name performers in one of the most exciting races imaginable.

Moments after the race, Parkhouse leaned on a lane rope and waved to her school friends in the stand. The smile on her face - they said it lit up thousands of living rooms throughout New Zealand - was one of exhaustion and delight.

This was one of the moments of the Christchurch Games, to rank alongside Dick Tayler's 10,000m triumph and Graham May's antics in the weightlifting arena.

Parkhouse, born in Cambridge in 1956, competed at the 1972 Munich Olympics, but was unable to progress past the heats of the 400m or 800m freestyle events.

She loved the experience though and looked forward to the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games. “After Munich, anything was going to seem small. That was the year of Mark Spitz and Shane Gould and of our rowers.

“Three of our swim team – Mark Treffers, Susan Hunter and me – won medals in Christchurch, so I guess the experience paid off.” All three were members of the Wharenui club and were coached by Jaynie's father, Pic.

“I had a really bad year in 1973. I didn't swim well at the trials or the nationals. I couldn't even get a placing.

“I was tossing up whether to even keep going and was lucky to get selected for the Games. They were in my home town and it was cheap to have me there, otherwise I mightn’t have made it. They chose me for the freestyle sprints and I think it was mainly because they wanted me for the relay.”

She was given added motivation by a Christchurch Press story before the Games.

“It said I was only chosen because my father was one of the coaches. That story became a real motivation for me. I was quietly determined to prove those critics wrong and once in camp, started to swim well again.”

In training, Parkhouse did an 800m time trial in 9min 24s, a couple of seconds faster than her national record. So she was also then entered for the 800m and 400m - she was now in every freestyle event.

“By the end of that camp, I'd swum the 100m in 60.30s, a national record. I was sharp and fit. I looked at little Jenny Turrall, the 800m world record-holder, and thought she couldn't possibly be fitter than me, and I could sprint faster.

“In the 800m heat, I surprised myself by swimming 9min 04s, 30 seconds faster than I did at Munich. I'd done good splits in training, but to put it together like that in a big race was a shock.”

Even so, Parkhouse was only the 4th fastest qualifier and still not favoured as a strong medal prospect ahead of young Australians Turrall, Rosemary Milgate and Sally Lockyer.

She began the final fired up after watching Treffers win a swim gold the same day.

“The final was very close. I was only fourth at the last turn, but then I introduced the six-beat kick and it gave me the sprint I needed. I thought I'd won, even though there was a lot of splashing and it was close.

“It was only when I looked at the time later that I realised how close it really was. I was so excited.”

Her winning time was 8min 58.49s, and she headed off the three Australians by mere fractions of a second – Turrall was only 0.04s behind in 2nd. After she clambered out of the pool, she walked past her father – “my coach, all my life”.

“He grabbed my hand and I gave him a hug; he was just beaming. I felt I’d been able to do it for him.

“I got invited to lunch with the Queen on the Brittania. It was the same day as the 400m final, but I thought, ‘What the hell’, and went. I got a bronze in the 400m and reached the finals of the two shorter races, so I suppose I did okay.”

Surprisingly, those Games virtually signalled the end of Parkhouse’s swim career. Back at Villa Maria College, she was “a bit of a hero” and had to give a talk about her Games experience. The Villa Maria nuns were really proud, she said.

In 1975, she married fellow swimmer Craig Hudgell and retired.

She and Craig lived in Canada for several years, then settled in Auckland until the late 1980s. After that they had stints in Melbourne, Wellington and then Auckland again.

Parkhouse retained her links with sport, swimming in particular. She was a member of the New Zealand team at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, where she had a mentoring role. In 2021 she became President of Swimming New Zealand.

Jaynie Parkhouse Drive, within QE II Park, where she won her gold and bronze medals, was named after her. There are also a Parkhouse Road and a Parkhouse Reserve in Rangiora named after the swim champion.

Jaynie Hudgell

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