Judy Grinham (GBR)

Honor Swimmer (1981)

The information on this page was written the year of their induction.

FOR THE RECORD:  OLYMPIC GAMES: 1956 gold (100m backstroke); WORLD RECORDS: 5; EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHPS: 1958 gold (100m backstroke), silver (freestyle relay), bronze (100m freestyle; medley relay); COMMONWEALTH GAMES: 1958 gold (100m backstroke; medley relay), bronze (freestyle relay); A.S.A. CHAMPIONSHIPS: 5.

In 1956 and 1958 Judy Grinham was elected Great Britain’s Sportswoman of the Year; she was the first woman from the United Kingdom in 32 years to win an Olympic swimming gold medal.  She was also the first Briton in any sport to hold every major title open to her (Olympic, European, Commonwealth, Great Britain and the World Record).  A popular cover girl in the mid 1950s she was so revered that she started a whole wave of British champions in the backstroke.  She carried the English colors in crawlstroke medals at the Commonwealth and European Championships.  She swam for England internationally in the front crawl during 1957.