Barbara Hounsell
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Barbara Jeanne Hounsell |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Born | 6 July 1951 Toronto, Ontario (CAN) |
| Height | 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) |
| Weight | 50 kg (110 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Swimming |
| Strokes | freestyle, medley |
| Club | Whittier Swim Association City of Commerce (Commerce City, CA) |
| Coach | Don Gambril (City of Commerce) Howard Kirby (Canadian Olympic Team) |
Barbara Jeanne Hounsell (born 6 July 1951) is a female Canadian former swimmer, born in Toronto, Canada. Hounsell competed in two events at the 1964 Summer Olympics.[1] Despite being of Canadian nationality she won the 440 yards medley title in 1965 at the ASA National British Championships.[2]
Hounsell lived in Whittier, California and the Los Angeles area for much of her life prior to the 1964 Olympics. By the age of 10, she swam with the Whittier Swim Association team under Coach Paul Gerards where in 1962, the team enjoyed an undefeated Winter season, and Barbara swam freestyle relays and 50-meter races.[3] She did her more intense physical training with Hall of Fame Coach Don Gambril at the highly competitive Rosemead Swim Club and then the City of Commerce Swim Club.[4][5][6]
At the Beverly Hills Invitational in January 1964, she placed second in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 5:04.6, edging out future gold medal Olympic swimmer and City of Commerce teammate Sharon Stouder. Barbara's time was four seconds from the first-place finisher.[7]
American age-group 200-yard IM record
At the age of 12, in May 1964, at the Southern Pacific AAU Swim Championships at the City of Commerce Pool, she eclipsed her own 200-yard Individual Medley American record for girls 11-12 by two seconds with a time of 2:23.1.[8]
Canadian national medley record
At the 1964 National Championships in Toronto, Barbara won the 220-yard Individual Medley with a time of 2:40.9, breaking the Canadian National Record, and won the 440-yard Individual Medley with a 5:33, only 2.3 seconds off the World Record.[9]
