Mark Treffers
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Mark Ferdinand Treffers | |||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 16 December 1953 Invercargill, New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Relatives | Ben Treffers (son) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Wharenui Swimming Club, Christchurch | |||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Mark Ferdinand Treffers (born 16 December 1953) is a former swimming representative from New Zealand and 1974 Commonwealth Games gold medalist who specialised in long distance freestyle and medley races.[1]
He was born in Invercargill and was taught to swim at the Waverly Swimming Club before moving to Christchurch to train at the under legendary New Zealand coach .[2]
Commonwealth Games[]
At the 1970 British Commonwealth Games held in Edinburgh, he won the bronze medal in the 1500 m freestyle in a time of 16:44.69.
At the 1974 British Commonwealth Games held in Christchurch, he won the gold medal in the men's 400m Individual Medley on the same day fellow New Zealander and Wharenui team-mate Jaynie Parkhouse won a gold medal in the 800m Freestyle.[3] Treffers would go on to claim a silver medal in the men's 1500m Freestyle, his main race, as he become just the seventh man in history to break 16 minutes finishing behind Australian Stephen Holland.
Olympic Games[]
He competed at both the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics with his best result being 6th place in the 1500 m at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.
British Championship[]
Despite being from New Zealand he won the 'Open' British Championship over 880 yards freestyle[4] and the 1970 1650 yards freestyle title.[5]
Personal life[]
Treffers studied law at the University of Canterbury while training for the Commonwealth Games before becoming a lawyer in Australia after retiring from swimming.[3]
Marks son Ben Treffers represented Australia in swimming, winning a gold medal in the 50m Backstroke at the 2014 Glasglow Commonwealth Games.
Mark Treffers Drive in New Brighton and Treffers Road in Wigram are named after him.
See also[]
References[]
- ^ sports-reference.com - Mark Treffers
- ^ Cousins, John (18 January 2017). "Commonwealth Games coaching legend Pic Parkhouse dies". Bay of Plenty Times. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
- ^ a b Smith, Tony (29 January 2014). "The day a fired-up Parkhouse struck gold". Stuff. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
- ^ ""Swimming." Times, 6 Aug. 1970, p. 10". Times Digital Archive.
- ^ ""Swimming." Times, 10 Aug. 1970, p. 10". Times Digital Archive.
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- 1953 births
- Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand
- Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand
- Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for New Zealand
- New Zealand male swimmers
- Swimmers at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games
- Swimmers at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games
- Olympic swimmers of New Zealand
- Swimmers at the 1972 Summer Olympics
- Swimmers at the 1976 Summer Olympics
- Living people
- Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming
- New Zealand swimming biography stubs