Lucy Morton

Lucy Morton
Personal information
Full name Lucy Morton
National team  Great Britain
Born (1898-02-23)23 February 1898
Knutsford, England
Died 26 August 1980(1980-08-26) (aged 82)
Blackpool, England
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Breaststroke

Lucy Morton (23 February 1898 – 26 August 1980), later known by her married name Lucy Heaton, was an English competition swimmer who represented Great Britain at the 1924 Summer Olympics and won a gold medal in the 200-metre breaststroke event.

Morton was born in 1898 at New Tatton in Cheshire, her father Alfred was in domestic service as a groom.[1] The family moved to Blackpool and by the age of 10 Morton had joined the local amateur swimming club.[1] By 1920 Morton held the world record for the 200-yard breaststroke and in 1924 was chosen to be part of the British team at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris.[1] Morton won the women's 200-metre breaststroke race, and became the first British woman to win an Olympic gold medal for swimming in an individual (non-relay) event.[1]

Morton retired from competitive swimming after the Olympics and married Harry Heaton in 1927.[1] She continued supporting swimming events for the rest of her life serving as a competitors' steward when she was aged 72.[1] She died in Blackpool in 1980. She was inducted posthumously into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Pioneer Swimmer" in 1988.[2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Win Hayes, "Morton, Lucy (1898–1980)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press (October 2007). Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  2. ↑ International Swimming Hall of Fame, Honourees, Lucy Morton (GBR). Retrieved 25 May 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/14/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.