The people behind the foundation

Former Don Oliver Scholar, Olympian Lauren Boyle, MNZM, is our greatest ever woman swimmer and at her competitive best, among the world’s best.

Her many achievements include a world short-course record over 1500m freestyle, a silver medal in the 400 free at the 2014 Commonwealths, topped by gold and a new games record in the

She won silver with Penelope Marshall, Amaka Gessler and Natasha Hind in the 4 × 200 freestyle relay at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and bronze with Helen Norfolk, Alison Fitch and Melissa Ingram (a fellow Don Oliver Scholar) in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

At the London Olympics Lauren was fourth fastest in the 400m freestyle heats setting a New Zealand record. In the 800m heats she qualified fifth fastest for the final where she touched in fourth, setting another New Zealand record, and only a stroke behind the reigning world champion. She retired after the 2016 Olympics, because of persistent injuries.

She also had the distinction of matching Danyon Loader in winning three medals at the 1994 FINA World Swimming Championships in Barcelona.

Lauren is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.

Gael is a former Silver Fern and Auckland representative who later joined and then headed up the selection panel for the Silver Ferns during one of their most successful periods.

Gael first represented New Zealand in the Under-21 team and followed this up in 1992 with the first of two test caps in the ULK, making against the English Roses when the Kiwis toured the UK.

She was described in netball documents as:

“A consistently strong performer for Auckland, rangy in-circle defender, Gael Nagaiya had the distinction of becoming the 100th player to represent the Silver Ferns when selected to tour the UK in 1992."

"Very tall, she was reliable, steady and she excelled as a zone defender."

"Nagaiya’s height and long arms made her an excellent rebounder and a disruptive presence in the opposing shooting circle."

After playing at the top level at Goal Defence, Goal Keep and Wing Defence, Gael went on to be both a coach and administrator at club level before becoming a Silver Ferns selector in 2011, In 2012 she was appointed the Emerging Talent Selector and a year later, convenor of the Silver Ferns’ selection panel.  Her role in both team and emerging talent selection, contributed to the Ferns becoming World Champions in 2019.

Gael is a company director and mother to Bianca – a rising star with the Central Manawa team in the National Netball League (NNL).

Netball is now a fixture in the Commonwealths Games thanks to New Zealand.  John Fairhurst, the General Manager Operations, for the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, chose Netball and Triathlon as demonstration sports for those Games.

Sporting polymath Matt Dallow is a double Winter Olympian and was an international rep in both rugby and athletics. Perhaps that is not surprising given that he’s the son of multi-talented sportsman, policeman and politician, Ross Dallow, one of the founders of ‘The Don Oliver.’

Originally his focus was on the decathlon with performances that earned him a scholarship to the University of Arizona. He graduated with honours in finance, and in sport, winning All-American status and a decathlon championship in the powerful Pac-10 conference. However, it was a career ending injury that paved the way into coaching and elite athlete development.

He was also a former New Zealand under 17 rugby rep wing and played professional rugby for London’s Harlequins and sevens rugby for the USA Eagles national team

Eventually being enticed into bobsledding he helped NZ qualify, in both 4-man and 2-man bobsleigh, for the Salt Lake Olympics. Breaking his leg int raining just 3 weeks before the Games saw him demoted to reserve and he did not compete. Agan selected for the 2006 Turin Games he managed to compete in the two-man bobsled despite tearing his Achilles tendon a month before the opening ceremony.

Turning to coaching, he’s seen success in a number of sports both here and in the States. Having been a Director and Performance lead for professional rugby franchises in both countries and with Athletics in NZ he now works as a private consultant for elite athletes and teams across a wide array of sports.