Swimming: Slip can't keep determined Bone away

The greatest glory for many sportspeople is not in never falling down, but in rising every time they hit the deck.

So when Hawke's Bay swimmer Katie Bone slipped on the wet floor of her hotel foyer in Australia on Friday afternoon, New Zealand officials feared the worst - but little did they know how adamant she was about competing.

"I would have been really gutted if I hadn't (competed) because we hadn't had any races at that stage," Bone said from the Oasis Resort in Cairns yesterday afternoon.

The 19-year-old first year Eastern Institute of Technology bachelor of business studies student was walking back to the hotel with 40 other fellow Kiwi swimmers at lunchtime on the first day of the Oceania Championship when she "caught a wet spot near a flight of little steps", hit her head on the floor and "passed out" momentarily.

"I landed on my back and got winded a little. According to Dr Wu (Australian swim doctor) I must have gone into shock. My blood pressure and heart rate fell and I was shaking hard but my eyes were wide open," said the former Napier Girls' High School student, who claimed the hotel staff had just minutes earlier mopped the foyer floor.

Kiwi officials gave Bone the green light to compete that night, provided she got the clearance from Dr Wu - which she did.

About 5pm (3pm NZ time) Bone had a warm up and two hours later she clinched a bronze medal in the 50m breaststroke event, clocking 33.79 seconds.

"My head was a little sore and my elbow and back were bruised," she said.

On Saturday Bone was pipped into fourth place in the 200m breaststroke event and tomorrow she will compete in her final event, the straight final of 100m breaststroke.

"It was touch and go in the 200m event and heaps of people thought I had touched the wall first. I wasn't able to find out what my actual time was," said Bone, who celebrated her birthday last Monday before jetting off on Tuesday to Cairns.

Fellow Sundevil swimmer Matt Thomas also got a bronze, in the 100m butterfly event, stopping the clock at a time of 55.38sec. Kiwi Corney Swanepoel (54.51sec) won the event ahead of Australian Tim Dodd (55.21sec).

Thomas also swam the fastest leg for the Kiwis in the 4 x 100m freestyle race.

Napier Aquahawk swimmer Callum Joll was unlucky not to qualify in his backstroke event because, according to Bone, the Oceania rules state only the three top swimmers from Australia and New Zealand can make it to the finals. The other berths are reserved for top qualifying South Pacific Island nations such as New Caledonia and Hawaii.

Sundevil coach Jon Winter last night commended Bone and Thomas.

"I'm rapt for the both of them. They are so talented and they can only go onwards and upwards from here," a delighted Winter said.

Bone yesterday complained that while Cairns had beautiful 25deg weather it was "freezing" in the outdoor pool they were competing in.

"The water is about 23 degrees with solar heating so it's very cold for competitions. Just as well it's nice outside the pool," she lamented.

- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY