Joan Cynthia Harrison (later ''Breetzke'', born 29 November 1935) is a retired

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

who won the 100 m

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four Swimming (sport), swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disa ...

event at the 1952 Olympics. Harrison's mother was a swimmer and her father played rugby. Joan went to

Clarendon High School for Girls Clarendon High School for Girls is a public English medium high school for girls situated in the suburb of Selborne of East London in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It was founded in 1903 as East London Girls' High School, The br ...

in East London. At age 13, she held three junior and two senior national records, and two national senior swimming titles. In 1950, aged 14, she won the 440 yd freestyle at the

British Empire Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

, beating the previous games record by 13 seconds and finishing 7 seconds ahead of other competitors, and was declared the outstanding woman swimmer of the games. She won two more gold medals at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. In 1982 she was inducted into the

International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the stu ...

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* 1935 births Living people Sportspeople from East London, South Africa South African female backstroke swimmers South African female freestyle swimmers South African female swimmers Olympic swimmers for South Africa Swimmers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1950 British Empire Games Swimmers at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Olympic gold medalists for South Africa Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for South Africa Commonwealth Games silver medallists for South Africa Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for South Africa South African people of British descent Olympic gold medalists in swimming Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Alumni of Clarendon High School for Girls 20th-century South African women 21st-century South African women Medallists at the 1950 British Empire Games Medallists at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games {{SouthAfrica-Olympic-medalist-stub

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