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Anita Lonsbrough

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Anita Lonsbrough
MBE
Personal information
Born10 August 1941 (1941-08-10) (age 83)
York, England
Sport
SportSwimming
Medal record
Women's swimming
Representing  Great Britain
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1960 Rome 200 m breaststroke
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 1962 Leipzig 200 m breaststroke
Silver medal – second place 1958 Budapest 200 m breaststroke
Silver medal – second place 1962 Leipzig 400 m individual medley
Bronze medal – third place 1958 Budapest 4×100 m medley
Bronze medal – third place 1962 Leipzig 4×100 m medley
Representing  England
British Empire and Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 1958 Cardiff 220 yd breaststroke
Gold medal – first place 1958 Cardiff 4×110 yd medley
Gold medal – first place 1962 Perth 110 yd breaststroke
Gold medal – first place 1962 Perth 220 yd breaststroke
Gold medal – first place 1962 Perth 440 yd individual medley
Silver medal – second place 1962 Perth 4×110 yd medley

Anita Lonsbrough, MBE (born 10 August 1941 in York[1]), later known by her married name Anita Porter, is an English former swimmer from Great Britain who won a gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics.

Swimming career

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At the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff she won gold in the 220 yards breaststroke and the medley relay.

At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, on 27 August 1960, at the age of 19, she won gold in the 200 m breaststroke in 2:49.5 ahead of West Germany's Wiltrud Urselmann (2:50.0), setting a new world record time.[2] She was one of only two GB gold medallists that year, the other being Don Thompson in the 50 kilometre walk.[3]

She would also be the last British woman to win Olympic gold in swimming until Rebecca Adlington gained the gold in the 2008 Summer Olympics, 48 years later.[4]

At the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth she won three golds: 110 yards breaststroke; 220 yards breaststroke; and 440 yards individual medley.

She won the 1963 ASA National Championship 220 yards freestyle title, and was a five times winner of the National Championship 220 yards breaststroke title, which included a world record in the 1962 final.[5][6][7][8] She also won the 440 yards medley title twice in 1963 and 1964.[9][10]

In 1964 she competed in the Tokyo Olympic Games, finishing 7th in the 400 metres individual medley. She was also to compete in the 400 metres freestyle, but did not start.[11]

Biography

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Lonsbrough was born in York to Stanley and Maud, and spent her childhood in India where her father, a Sergeant Major in the Coldstream Guards, was posted.[2] After the family’s return to Yorkshire, she was educated at St. Joseph's Catholic College, Bradford, a girls' direct grant grammar school.[12] She became a Treasurer's Office clerk employed at the Huddersfield Town Hall.[1][2] She won her first gold medal for swimming in the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff.[2] Five world records and seven gold medals followed until her retirement in 1964. At one time she held the Olympic, Empire and European titles at the same time.

She is married to cycling commentator and former leading British professional track cyclist Hugh Porter; they met travelling to Tokyo for the 1964 Summer Olympics and married on Thursday 17 June 1965 at St Peter's Church, Huddersfield.[13][14][15] The couple live in Tettenhall, Wolverhampton.[16]

She taught swimming at the P.E. Dept at Ounsdale High School. Lonsbrough worked as a swimming commentator for BBC radio for many years alongside Peter Jones. She is currently a sports commentator and journalist for The Daily Telegraph, under the name Anita Lonsbrough-Porter.

Honours

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The Lonsborough Flats in Huddersfield, named after Lonsbrough, were demolished in 2016.

She was the first woman winner of BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1962.[2] and was the last person to win the 'Sports Outlook' trophy Northern Sports Star of the year award in 1962.

She was awarded an MBE in 1963 for services to swimming.

Anita Lonsbrough was the first female flag bearer for Great Britain at the Summer Games when she carried the flag in the opening ceremony of the 1964 Summer Olympics, after previously turning down the role at the 1960 Summer Olympics.[16]

In 1983 she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "50 years ago today, Huddersfield swimmer Anita Lonsbrough received her Olympic gold medal". Huddersfield Examiner. 27 August 2010. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d e Richmond, Tom (24 August 2020). "Special anniversary looms for swimming's 1960 Olympic Games heroine Anita Lonsbrough". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  3. ^ Burnton, Simon (12 June 2012). "50 stunning Olympic moments No38: Don Thompson takes walking gold". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  4. ^ "Adlington snatches swimming gold". BBC Sport. 11 August 2008. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  5. ^ "Swimming Victory For Black". The Times. 23 August 1958. p. 3.
  6. ^ "Swimmers Protest At Blackpool". The Times. 5 September 1959. p. 3.
  7. ^ "Medal Winners In Action". The Times. 24 September 1960. p. 3.
  8. ^ "World Records At Blackpool". The Times. 15 September 1962. p. 3.
  9. ^ "Miss Lonsbrough Recovers". The Times. 29 August 1963. p. 4.
  10. ^ "Meagre Swimming Team For Tokyo". The Times. 24 August 1964. p. 3.
  11. ^ "Anita Lonsbrough Results". Olympic Channel. Retrieved 23 May 2021.[dead link]
  12. ^ "Flats named". The Catholic Herald. 30 June 1961. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  13. ^ "Fifty years for Wolverhampton's golden couple". www.expressandstar.com.
  14. ^ Jones, Andy (6 March 2008). "STAFFORDSHIRE AND SHROPSHIRE WITH HUGH PORTER". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 17 August 2008.
  15. ^ Ringland, Nigel (12 August 2008). "No chance to relax in the Water Cube. The Beijing Olympics". Irish News. Belfast. Retrieved 17 August 2008.
  16. ^ a b "No medal for Hugh, but he got the girl instead!". Shropshire Star. 2 August 2021. pp. 8–9. Report by Mark Andrews, on the couple's memories of the 1964 Olympics and their life since.
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Awards
Preceded by BBC Sports Personality of the Year
1962 		Succeeded by
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