Kathleen Mary Dawson (born 3 October 1997) is a Scottish

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 ...

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 ...

. She won gold at the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

mixed 4 × 100 metre medley relay Mixed is the past tense of ''mix''. Mixed may refer to: * Mixed (United Kingdom ethnicity category), an ethnicity category that has been used by the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics since the 1991 Census * ''Mixed'' (album), a c ...

in a world record time. She is also the European champion at the 2020 Budapest Championships and holder of the European record in 100 m backstroke (58.08).

Career

Dawson has represented Scotland at the

Commonwealth 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 ...

since 2014. She represented Great Britain at the

2016 European Aquatics Championships The 2016 European Aquatics Championships took place from 9 to 22 May 2016 in London, United Kingdom, in the London Aquatics Centre. It was the thirty second edition of the event, and the second held in the same year as a Summer Olympics. Hosts Gr ...

, and won a bronze medal in 100 metre backstroke. She also won a gold in the 4 × 100 metre medley relay. In May 2021, at the

European championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

held in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, Dawson won gold in the 100 metres backstroke. As a result of a technical error, she had to swim twice in the final, but won on both occasions. She also won gold in 4x100m medley and mixed medley relay, and silver in 50 m backstroke at the same Championships. Dawson was named a member of the British team to go to the postponed

2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

in April 2021. This would be her first Olympics where she would join more experienced Olympians like

Aimee Willmott Aimee Willmott (born 26 February 1993) is an English competitive swimmer who has represented Great Britain at the Olympic Games, FINA world championships and European championships, and England in the Commonwealth Games. She was the 2018 Comm ...

and

Molly Renshaw Molly Renshaw (born 6 May 1996) is an English breaststroke swimmer. In 2016, she won the 200 metres breaststroke at the 2016 FINA World Swimming Championships (25m). Career In 2012, she won the national 200 m title, but was not selected for ...

. At the Tokyo Olympics, Dawson raced in the backstroke lead-off leg of the final of the

, winning gold and setting a world record time of 3 minutes 37.58 seconds together with

Adam Peaty Adam George Peaty (born 28 December 1994) is an English competitive swimmer who specialises in the breaststroke. He won the gold medal in the 100 metre breaststroke at the 2016 Summer Olympics, the first by a male British swimmer in 24 years, ...

, James Guy and

Anna Hopkin Anna Hopkin (born 24 April 1996) is a British swimmer. She won gold as part of the British team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in mixed 4 × 100 metre medley relay, setting a new world record time. Career Hopkin, who is from Chorley, competed for ...

. Dawson was announced as an Observatory for Sport in Scotland ambassador, where she helps spotlight the benefits of community sport for all ages and abilities, and she finished 2021 being voted 'Sportswoman of the Year' at the Scottish Women in Sport Awards, held in Glasgow in November, where she pipped fellow nominees Katie Archibald and Laura Muir to the coveted title. Dawson was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations ...

for services to swimming and women in sport.

References

External links

* * * 1997 births Living people Scottish female swimmers British female backstroke swimmers European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Sportspeople from Kirkcaldy Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in swimming Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Scottish Olympic medallists Members of the Order of the British Empire {{UK-swimming-bio-stub