Karen Muir
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Karen Muir (16 September 1952 – 1 April 2013)[1][2] was a South African competitive swimmer. Born and raised in Kimberley, she attended the Diamantveld High School, where she matriculated in 1970.[3]
Biography
On 10 August 1965, aged twelve years, Muir became the youngest person to break a sporting world record in any discipline when she swam the 110 yards backstroke in 1m 08.7s at the ASA National Junior Championships in Blackpool, England.[4][5][6]
Over the following five years Muir would go on to set fifteen world records in the backstroke at 100 metres, 200 metres, 110 yards, and 220 yards.[7] She also won 22 South African Championships and three US National Championships.[8] Due to the sporting boycott of South Africa during her active career, she was never able to participate in an Olympic Games.[8]
Muir was elected to the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1980. After retiring from her sport, she qualified, through the University of the Orange Free State,[3] as a doctor and practiced in the African continent.[8] Since 2000 she worked as a family physician in Vanderhoof, British Columbia, Canada.[1][9] During 2009, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. On 19 January 2012, it was reported that the cancer had spread.[10]
Muir died of breast cancer at the age of 60 in Mossel Bay, South Africa on 1 April 2013.[1][2]
Kimberley's Olympic-sized swimming pool was named the Karen Muir Swimming Pool in honour of the young swimmer, who was nicknamed locally as the "Tepid Torpedo".[3] When Muir revisited the city in 2009 she donated her Springbok blazer to the Diamantveld High School.[3]
See also
- List of members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame
- World record progression 100 metres backstroke
- World record progression 200 metres backstroke
References
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- ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b c d "Tributes pour in for Karen Muir", Diamond Fields Advertiser, 3 April 2013, p 4
- ↑ HistoryScript error: No such module "Unsubst"., Swimming South Africa
- ↑ "South Africa Swimmer, 12, Wins Third Title in Britain", The New York Times, 14 August 1965
- ↑ "Karen Muir: She Just Goes Out and Swims"Script error: No such module "Unsubst"., St. Petersburg Times, 15 August 1965
- ↑ "Swimming in South Africa" Script error: No such module "webarchive"., SouthAfrica.net
- ↑ a b c Karen Muir (RSA) – 1980 Honor Swimmer Script error: No such module "webarchive"., International Swimming Hall of Fame
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ André Botha (17 January 2012). "Karen Muir veg nou om haar lewe" Script error: No such module "webarchive".. volksblad.com Template:In lang
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External links
- Pages with script errors
- Pages using infobox swimmer with national team parameter
- 1952 births
- 2013 deaths
- South African female backstroke swimmers
- Sportspeople from Kimberley, Northern Cape
- World record setters in swimming
- Deaths from breast cancer in South Africa
- South African people of British descent
- 20th-century South African sportswomen
- Alumni of Diamantveld High School