Meda McKenzie
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Meda-Therese McKenzie |
| Born | 1963 (age 60–61) Wellington, New Zealand |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Swimming |
| Strokes | Long-distance swimming |
Meda-Therese McKenzie MBE (born 1963), generally known as Meda McKenzie, is a former New Zealand long-distance swimmer, who was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.[1]
At fifteen she swam Cook Strait, and later (in 1978) swam it in the opposite direction. She also swam Foveaux Strait; and in England the English Channel and a double crossing of the Bristol Channel.
After retiring to raise two children, she returned after five years to swim across Lake Erie in Canada, and two firsts: the first double crossing of Cook Strait by a woman and a circumnavigation of Rarotonga.
In the 1978 Queen's Birthday Honours, McKenzie was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for being the first New Zealand woman to swim Cook Strait and the first person to swim Cook Strait in both directions.[2]
References
[edit]- Ron Palenski (2002). Profiles of Fame: The Stories of New Zealand's Greatest Sports Achievers. New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame. p. 29. ISBN 0-473-08536-4.
- ^ "Meda McKenzie". Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
- ^ "Queen's Birthday honours list 1978" (PDF). Supplement to the New Zealand Gazette. No. 51. 9 June 1978. p. 1650.
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