Lynne Watson

Lynne Watson
Personal information
Full name Lynnette Pamela Watson
Nickname(s) "Lynne"
National team  Australia
Born 22 November 1952
Perth, Western Australia
Height 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight 60 kg (130 lb)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Backstroke, freestyle

Lynnette Pamela Watson (born 22 November 1952), known after marriage as Lynne Bates, is an Australian former backstroke swimmer of the 1960s, who won a silver medal in the 4x100-metre medley relay at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, narrowly missing two more medals.

Coming from Western Australia, Watson combined with Janet Steinbeck, Lyn McClements and Judy Playfair to register a silver medal in the 4x100-metre medley relay, trailing the Americans home by 1.7 seconds. Competing in the individual 100-metre freestyle, Watson was eliminated in the semifinals. She placed sixth and fourth in the 100-metre and 200-metre backstroke respectively. She also finished fourth as part of the 4x100-metre freestyle relay team. Two years later at the 1970 Commonwealth Games, Watson won four gold medals in both backstroke events and in the 4x100-metre freestyle and medley relays, as well as a silver in the 100-metre freestyle. She later became a team administrator for Australia at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

References

Andrews, Malcolm (2000). Australia at the Olympic Games. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. p. 453. ISBN 0-7333-0884-8.