Beatrice "Nancy" Lyons (born 12 April 1930), also known by her married name Beatrice Welch, is an Australian former

breaststroke Breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and that it can be s ...

swimmer of the 1940s and 1950s who won a silver medal in the 200m breaststroke at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

Swimming career

Coached in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

by Mabel Springfield, the chaperone for female athletes on the Australian

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics ( nl, Olympische Zomerspelen 1928), officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad ( nl, Spelen van de IXe Olympiade) and commonly known as Amsterdam 1928, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from ...

team, Lyons nearly missed the London games. Although she was one of 25 swimmers chosen for the team, due to post-war financial difficulties, she was forced to raise the money herself to pay her fare to the Olympics. This was achieved and she finished half a second behind the world record-holder

Petronella van Vliet Petronella "Nel" van Vliet (17 January 1926 – 4 January 2006) was a breaststroke swimmer from the Netherlands. She won gold medals in the 200 m breaststroke at the 1947 European Aquatics Championships and 1948 Summer Olympics. In 1973, ...

of the Netherlands. This was two months after changing from the traditional breaststroke technique to the

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

stroke, which was at that stage permitted due to a loophole in the rules. At the

1950 British Empire Games The 1950 British Empire Games was the fourth staging of what is now called the Commonwealth Games. It was held in Auckland, New Zealand between 4 and 11 February 1950, after a 12-year gap from the third edition of the games. The main venue was ...

in Auckland, Lyons was beaten into second place by Scottish swimmer Helen Gordon in the 220-yard breaststroke, and won gold in the 3×110-yard medley relay with Judy-Joy Davies and

Marjorie McQuade Marjorie Anne McQuade (16 July 1934 – 10 October 1997), later known by her married name Marjorie Bennett, was a competition swimmer who represented Australia at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London and the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. At ...

(as only three different strokes were in existence at the time). At the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

in Helsinki, Lyons finished last in her semi-final with a time more than six seconds outside her best, set in the London final four years earlier. She retired after the games.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyons, Nancy 1930 births Living people Sportswomen from Queensland Olympic swimmers for Australia Swimmers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Australian female breaststroke swimmers Swimmers from Brisbane Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Australia Olympic silver medalists in swimming Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Swimmers at the 1950 British Empire Games 20th-century Australian women 21st-century Australian women Medallists at the 1950 British Empire Games

Swimming career

See also

References

External links