Anita Lonsbrough

Anita Lonsbrough, after marriage Porter, ( born August 10, 1941 in Huddersfield) is a former British swimmer, the 1960 Olympic champion.

Born in England, she grew up in India when her father was stationed there with the Coldstream Guards. Upon her return to England, she joined a swimming club in Huddersfield. In 1958 she moved to the chest line and quickly closed the world leaders on. In the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1958 in Cardiff, she won two gold medals. At the European Championships 1958 in Budapest she won the 200m breast in second place behind Ada den Haan and before Wiltrud Urselmann.

At the age of 19, she has enjoyed her greatest success in swimming, as they Olympic champion over 200m breaststroke was at the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960, while the German swimmers Wiltrud Urselmann and Barbara Göbel referred to the courts. In the final, she worked with 2:49,5 minutes on a new world record. So you won one of two gold medals, the British athlete won in Rome, the other received the walker Don Thompson.

In the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1962 in Perth Lonsbrough won on both breast and routes in Medley. At the European Championships in 1962 in Leipzig, she won the 200m breast and was able to track second behind Adrie Lasterie. In the same year she was elected the first female BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

At the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964, she was the first woman who was allowed to carry the British flag at Olympic opening ceremony. On the 400 - m- position route she took seventh place in Tokyo. The end of 1964, she ended her career in which she had placed a total of four world records. She was awarded the Order MBE.

After her career as a swimmer, she was a sports journalist and worked for the Daily Telegraph. She married Hugh Porter, the end of the 1960s the world cycling championships in Track Cycling was. In 1983, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the international swimming sport.