Karen Muir
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South Africa Karen Muir in 1967 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Karen Muir |
| National team | South Africa |
| Born | 16 September 1952 |
| Died | 1 April 2013 (aged 60) Mossel Bay, Western Cape, South Africa |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Swimming |
| Strokes | Backstroke |
Karen Muir (16 September 1952 – 1 April 2013)[1][2] was a South African competitive swimmer. Born and raised in Kimberley, she attended the Diamantveld High School, where she matriculated in 1970.[3]
On 10 August 1965, aged twelve years, Karen Muir became the youngest person to break a sporting world record in any discipline when she swam the 110 yards backstroke in 1m 08.7s at the ASA National Junior Championships in Blackpool, England.[4][5][6]
Over the following five years Muir would go on to set fifteen world records in the backstroke at 100 metres, 200 metres, 110 yards, and 220 yards.[7] She also won 22 South African Championships and three US National Championships.[8] Due to the sporting boycott of South Africa during her active career, she was never able to participate in an Olympic Games.[8]
Muir was elected to the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1980. After retiring from her sport, she qualified, through the University of the Orange Free State,[3] as a doctor and practiced in the African continent.[8] Since 2000 she worked as a family physician in Vanderhoof, British Columbia, Canada.[1][9] During 2009, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Muir died from the disease in Mossel Bay, South Africa on 1 April 2013, at the age of 60.[1][2]
Kimberley's Olympic-sized swimming pool was named the Karen Muir Swimming Pool in honour of the young swimmer, who was nicknamed locally as the "Tepid Torpedo".[3] When Muir revisited the city in 2009 she donated her Springbok blazer to the Diamantveld High School.[3]
