Violet Walrond - Infromation

Violet Walrond   - Olympic Swimmer

Violet Ethel Mary Walrond was born on 27 of February 1996. She was the representative of New Zealand at the 1920 Summer Olympics at Antwerp. She was the first youngest female that compete at the Olympics. Violet Walrond competed in two events at the Olympics.

Walrond's father, Cecil 'Tui' Walrond, was a noted swimmer who received a Royal Humane Society award for rescuing 11 people from drowning. Violet and her younger sister Edna retired from competitive swimming in 1923 when Violet was 18. She later stated that they retired on orders from their father, as he felt that we were too much in the public eye.

It was the first time we competed as an Olympic nation in our own right- not as part of an Australian team. The New Zealand athletes made up a small but proud group of rower, a hudler, a sprinter and a fifteen-year old swimmer named Violet Walrond.

Nine weeks, five days

The athletes trip took Nine Weeks and Five Days.