Three New Zealanders Appointed to World Aquatics Committees
- dale493
- Sep 5
- 3 min read
Announcement of our New Zealand Officials Appointed to World Aquatics Committees
We are thrilled to announce that three New Zealand officials have been appointed to respective committees for World Aquatics. We are also delighted to recognise the tremendous service of the three outgoing committee members.
Ross Gillespie (Dargaville), Marco Cecioni (Raumati), and Swimming NZ Life Member and current Swimming NZ President, Ron Clarke (Aquagym), have each been appointed as new members of respective technical committees for the global body.
Ron Clarke has been appointed to the World Aquatics Swimming Technical Committee, replacing fellow Swimming NZ Life Member, Lesley Huckins, on the committee. Clarke brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the committee. He has been a member of Swimming NZ’s Technical Advisory Committee since 2014, on the Oceania executive committee between 2012 – 2020 and a Referee on the World Aquatics Swimming Officials List for 16 years since 2009. Clarke has major international event experience as a technical official, having officiated at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the 2022 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, three World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships in 2011 (Peru), 2013 (Dubai) and 2019 (Budapest) and most recently the 2024 World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m) in Budapest.
Clarke is honoured to be appointed to this position.
“I am looking forward to continuing the strong representation that previous New Zealand members have provided to the World Aquatics Swimming Technical Committee. This includes working with other committee members from around the world to ensure fair competition for all swimmers and ensuring the officiating at World Aquatics events is of the highest standard.”
Lesley Huckins concludes her time on the committee after serving twelve years on the committee. She has expressed her gratitude for the opportunity.
“It was a privilege to represent New Zealand and serve the global swimming community for this period from 2013 – 2025.”
We’d like to thank and congratulate Lesley for her commitment to the sport and for representing the country and Oceania region since 2013.
Ross Gillespie has been appointed to the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming Technical Committee, replacing Swimming NZ Life Member, John West, on the committee. Gillespie has extensive open water swimming experience that he will provide to the committee. He has been on the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming Officials List since 2015 and has officiated at pinnacle open water competitions around the world. These include the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on the River Seine and at the World Aquatics Championships in 2019 (Gwangju), as well as many other open water championships across the globe. He has been a regular Technical Director at the NZ Open Water Swimming Championships over many years and served on the Swimming NZ Technical Advisory Committee since 2022.
Gillespie is looking forward to the opportunity to grow open water swimming on the committee.
“I’m humbled to be appointed to this committee. It’s an honour to continue the strong representation after the work done by John West in recent years, and I’m looking forward to contributing to the delivery of open water swimming moving forward. I’m incredibly passionate about the sport and hope to see it continue to grow.”
John West concludes his time on the committee after serving the past 16 years on the committee, with the past four as the honorary secretary. He has recently been elected to be a member of the World Aquatics bureau.
We’d like to acknowledge and thank John for his dedication to open water swimming and for his major role in delivering pinnacle international open water competitions since 2009.
Marco Cecioni has been appointed to the World Aquatics Masters Swimming Technical Committee. He has been a regular official at swimming competitions throughout New Zealand and heavily involved in the delivery of NZ Masters Swimming.
We’d also like to celebrate Swimming NZ Life Member, Dr Dave Gerrard, for his time on the World Aquatics Sports Medicine Committee. Gerrard has held various roles as a member, vice chair and chair of this committee across the past 40 years, having first been appointed in 1985.
Gerrard concludes his time on the committee after 40 years of service and guidance for the sport at the global level.
“I’ve had many happy memories over the 40 years. Volunteerism at this level has always been a privilege and I’ve worked with some outstanding people, great athletes and amazing coaches.”
Congratulations and thank you to Dr Dave for his tremendous contribution to swimming at the international level.
We’d like to congratulate each of the three New Zealand officials for their appointments to the respective committees and wish them well in their new roles.
You can find the full list of members for the respective committees below.
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