LANGTON, Wendy

AUSTRALIA'S OLDEST SURVIVING figure skating club began in 1961 at the Bondi Junction Ice Rink in Sydney on the site of the current home of the Roosters Club. Wendy Langton took up skating there in 1963 with contemporaries such as Bill and Edwina Hewison, then moved to the newly opened Burwood Glaciarium in 1964 where her club was renamed the Sydney Figure Skating Club.

Devastated like many others when the city's only full-sized ice rink closed with two weeks notice at the end of 1969, she joined the group of volunteers who founded Australia's first ice rink co-operative in a bankrupt ice rink at Canterbury in 1971. They raised $30,000 from within the sport, and another $45,000 in borrowings to make a new home for the Sydney club.

The ice-making plant in the aircraft hangar next door to the Canterbury Swimming Pool began life in Bendrodt's Ice Palais at the Showground over 30 years earlier. Electricians, engineers, carpenters, businessmen, lawyers, advertising people, and administrators volunteered their time to get it running again, along with many others who dug, painted and moved things. Canterbury Council dropped the land rent in the early years, and the Co-op successfully navigated several financial crises over the years that followed.

A creditor with a reputation for ripping off charities and not-for-profits tried to wind it up in the early 1980s, but luckily the TV program A Current Affair exposed the man, enabling the Co-op to pay back their debt in small payments with the help of a government loan. The organisers enlarged the rink progressively to the current international dimensions with State and Federal funding. "We like the clubs operating at Canterbury to regard it as the natural home of ice skating," said Langton in 2002, "and to think that they own an ice rink, rather than just taking it for granted. What do you get from helping? You continue to have a viable ice rink to use".

Langton judged and officiated at World and Olympic levels from 1966 until 2016, beginning at club level from 1966; singles, pairs and dance at state and national levels from 1973; and ISU competition level in singles and pair from 1982, dance from 1986, including the 2014 Olympics. She was Team Leader at the 1982 Worlds in Copenhagen, and Technical Co-ordinator in the 1988 World Juniors in Brisbane.

Considered a founder of the Sydney Figure Skating Club, Langton served as secretary between 1966 and '75, president in '76, and committee member in '77. The club's representative on the state council (1966-76), she served as state secretary between 1976 and '83, and vice-president in 1984. She was state delegate between 1975 and 2006, national secretary for 26 years (1976-9, 1984-2006), and a member of the judging, technical, international and drafting committees of the national association between 1974 and 2016.

For almost 30 years, Langton served as an Australian Olympic Committee Sporting Administrator (1982-2011), and a member of the Australian administration staff of four Olympic Games (1984, '88, '96, '00), and five Winter Olympic Games (1992, '94, '98, '02, '14). The ISU Officials Assessment Commission retained her to check the correctness of judge's results for 6 or 8 years instead of the usual 2.

The knowledge and experience required to reach international standard involves such a long commitment, many are unwilling to volunteer. "Wendy not only gave the time needed to reach these international standards," said Rosemary Johnson in 2017, "she was also strongly committed to mentoring and training judges at all levels. Above all, Wendy was fair-minded and the skating community knew they could rely on her to do the very best she could".

In June 2002, Langton received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to ice skating, particularly as an administrator, judge, referee and coach. In 2005, she received the NSW Sports Federation Distinguished Long Service Award, a well-earned recognition for a career spanning well over five decades. A Life Member of the Sydney Figure Skating Club and the ACT ice skating association, the national association inducted Wendy Langton to the Ice Skating Australia Hall of Fame in 2017.