On the 27 August 1960, former swimmer, Anita Lonsbrough, MBE, won gold at the  1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. At the age of 19 she won gold in the 200 metre breaststroke in 2 minutes 49.5 seconds, ahead of West Germany’s Wiltrud Urselmann, setting a new world record time.

Anita was one of only two GB gold medallists that year, the other being Don Thompson in the 50 kilometre walk.  She was also the last British woman to win Olympic gold in swimming until Rebecca Adlington won 48 years later, in Beijing in the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Born in 1941 in York, she was educated at St. Joseph’s Catholic College, Bradford, and later employed as a clerk in the Treasurer’s Office at the Huddersfield Town Hall.

Anita won her first gold medals for swimming at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, in the 220 yards breaststroke and the medley relay. In the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth. She won three golds, the 110 yards breaststroke, 220 yards breaststroke, and 440 yards individual medley.

Anita was the first female to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1962, and the first female flag bearer for Great Britain at the 1964 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, when she carried the flag in the opening ceremony.

In 1963, Anita was awarded an MBE  for services to swimming, and inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Anita retired in 1964, and after a spell teaching swimming, including the PE Dept at Ounsdale High School, she currently works as a sports commentator and journalist for The Daily Telegraph, under the name Anita Lonsbrough-Porter. She is married to cycling commentator and former British professional track cyclist Hugh Porter. 

27 August, 2019