Lucy Morton (23 February 1898 – 26 August 1980), later known by her married name Lucy Heaton, was an English competition swimmer who represented Great Britain at the 1924 Summer Olympics and won a gold medal in the 200-metre breaststroke event.[1]
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Lucy Morton | ||||||||||||||
| National team | Great Britain | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 23 February 1898 Knutsford, England | ||||||||||||||
| Died | 26 August 1980 (aged 82) Blackpool, England | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Breaststroke | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Morton was born in 1898 at New Tatton in Cheshire; her father Alfred was in domestic service as a groom.[2] The family moved to Blackpool, and by the age of ten, Morton had joined the local amateur swimming club.[2] By 1920, Morton held the world record for the 200-yard breaststroke. In 1924, she was chosen to be part of the British team at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris.[2] Morton won the women's 200-metre breaststroke race and became the first British woman to win an Olympic gold medal for swimming in an individual (non-relay) event.[2] At the time, she was working at the post office at St Annes.[3] Blackpool council opened her local swimming baths so that she could train before and after work.[3] On her return to the town, she was given a civic reception, where she was presented with the gift of a piano, and over ten thousand people lined the streets to greet her.[3]
Morton retired from competitive swimming after the Olympics and married Harry Heaton in 1927.[2] She continued supporting swimming events for the rest of her life, serving as a competitors' steward when she was aged 72.[2] She died in Blackpool in 1980. She was inducted posthumously into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Pioneer Swimmer" in 1988.[4]
A book based on her Olympic win and early life was published in June 2024, called Swim, written by Lisa Brace and published by Blue Pier Books.
She is commemorated by a blue plaque on Blackpool Town Hall.[3]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Lucy Morton". Olympedia. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f Win Hayes, "Morton, Lucy (1898–1980)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press (October 2007). Retrieved 25 May 2015.
- ^ a b c d Duncanson, Neil (17 July 2024). "Not just Chariots of Fire: the forgotten heroes of 1924 Paris Olympics". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
- ^ "Lucy Morton (GBR)". ISHOF.org. International Swimming Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 24 February 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2015.