Linda McGill
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||
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Nickname(s) | Linda Carol McGill | ||||||||||||||||||
National team |
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Born | 17 December 1945 | ||||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||||||
Strokes | Breaststroke, butterfly, medley | ||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Linda Carol McGill (born 17 December 1945) is an Australian former competition swimmer noted both for achievements at the Commonwealth Games and in long-distance swimming.
Career
At the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, McGill won the bronze medal in the Women's 110-yard butterfly, the silver medal in the women's 440-yard individual medley, and the gold medal in the 4x110-yard medley relay.[1] In 1964, she was banned by amateur swimming authorities for alleged misbehavior at the Tokyo Olympic Games.[2] She became a long distance swimmer, becoming the first Australian to swim the English Channel in 1965,[2] swimming topless and posing topless for press photographs after the swim.[3] On this swim, she missed setting a then-world women's record by just 11 minutes.[4] In an effort to beat the record, she formally petitioned for and was granted permission from the Channel Swimming Association to swim topless.[5][6] In 1967, she beat the record with a time of just under 10 hours.[2] In 1976, swimming topless, she became the first person ever to swim around Hong Kong, accomplishing this in 17 hours.[7]
References
- ↑ "1962 Australian Team and Results" (PDF). Commonwealth Games Australia. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "McGill, Linda". The Australian Women's Register. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
- ↑ McGill, Linda (2007). Surviving the Sea of Life: The triumphs and tragedies of an Australian Olympian. New Holland. ISBN 1741105285.
- ↑ "Channel Swim Easy for Linda McGill". The Tuscaloosa News. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
- ↑ "Swimmer in Channel Topless" (PDF). Watertown Daily Times. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
- ↑ "Topless Swimmer". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
- ↑ "Linda swims around Hong Kong". The Age. Retrieved 2014-01-12.