Kathy Read

Kathy Read

Personal information
Born	(1969-06-30) 30 June 1969 Great Yarmouth, England
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in)
Weight	60 kg (130 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Club	Barnet Copthall, Norwich Penguins
Medal record Women's swimming Competitor for  Great Britain European Championships 1993 Sheffield 4×100 m medley Competitor for  England Commonwealth Games 1986 Edinburgh 200 m backstroke 1994 Victoria 4x100 m medley 1994 Victoria 100 m backstroke

Katherine Read (born 30 June 1969), also known by her married name Katherine Osher, is an English former backstroke swimmer who competed at three Olympic Games, in Los Angeles 1984, Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992.^[1] At the Commonwealth Games, she won a silver medal in the 200 m backstroke in 1986 and a bronze medal in the 100 m backstroke in 1994. She also won a bronze medal in the 4×100 m medley relay at the 1993 European Championships.^[2]

Career

Read competed at her first Olympic Games in Los Angeles 1984 at the age of 15 and reached the B final of the 200 m backstroke, finishing 11th overall. Two years later at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland, she won a silver medal in the 200 m backstroke.

At her second Olympic Games in Seoul 1988, Read reached the B finals of both the 100 m and 200m backstroke, overall she finished 16th and 12th respectively. At her final Olympics in Barcelona 1992, she was eliminated in the heats, finishing 24th overall in the 100 m and 21st in the 200m backstroke events.

During her career, Read also reached six individual finals at the European Championships, 8th at 200 m (1987), 7th at both 100 m & 200 m (1989), 6th at 200 m (1991) and 6th at both 100 & 200 m (1993). It was at the 1993 event in Sheffield that she finally won a European Championship medal, winning bronze in the medley relay along with teammates Jaime King, Nicola Goodwin and Karen Pickering.

At the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria (as Kathy Osher), she won two medals, bronze in the 100 m backstroke, followed by a silver in the medley relay. She competed at the 1996 Olympic trials, but failed to make the team for Atlanta.

References