Len Smith | |
Birth Name: | Leonard Smith |
Birth Date: | 29 July 1906 |
Birth Place: | Whanganui, New Zealand |
Death Place: | New Zealand |
Occupation: | Farmer |
Country: | New Zealand |
Sport: | Swimming |
Club: | Feilding Amateur Swimming Club |
Nationals: | 100 yd breaststroke, 1st (1939) 220 yd breaststroke, 1st (1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936) |
Pb: | 100 yd breaststroke: 1:15.6 220 yd breaststroke: 3:01.4 |
Leonard Smith (29 July 1906 – 14 March 1998) was a New Zealand swimmer who represented his country at the 1934 British Empire Games in London.
Born in Whanganui in 1906,[1] Smith was a farmer[2] and a member of the Feilding Amateur Swimming Club.[3] He won nine New Zealand national breaststroke titles: the 100 yards in 1939; and the 220 yards every year from 1929 to 1936.[4] His best winning time for the 220 yards breaststroke was 3:01.4, which he swam in breaking his own New Zealand record at the 1935 national championships at the Tepid Baths in Auckland.[5] [6] He also held the national 100 yards breaststroke record, with a time of 1:15.6 clocked when he won the New Zealand title for that distance in 1939.[7] [8]
At the 1934 British Empire Games, Smith competed in the men's 200 yards breaststroke.[2] He finished third in his heat and did not progress.[2] However, he reached the final of the 3 x 100 yards medley relay with teammates Noel Crump and Wiremu Whareaitu, finishing fifth.[1]
Smith retired from competitive swimming after the 1939 season.[9]