Sandra Anne Morgan is an Australian former freestyle swimmer. She was part of the gold medal-winning team in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. At the age of 14 years and 6 months, she became the youngest Australian to win an Olympic gold medal. She retired from competitive swimming following the 1960 Summer Olympics.
About Sandra Morgan in brief
Sandra Anne Morgan is an Australian former freestyle swimmer. She was part of the gold medal-winning team in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. At the age of 14 years and 6 months, she became the youngest Australian to win an Olympic gold medal, a record that still stands. She retired from competitive swimming following the 1960 Summer Olympics. In retirement, she has continued her involvement in swimming and the Olympics by teaching disabled children to swim and participating in Olympic educational programs and torch relays. She is also an ambassador for Australia Day and has appeared on television as part of her work with Christian groups. Morgan was born in the north-western New South Wales city of Tamworth, before growing up in Punchbowl, a suburb in South-western Sydney. Her father Barrington, a plumber, had success as a swimmer in his childhood, but a lack of facilities in rural Australia curtailed his career. As a result, he vowed that his daughter would become a national champion. Morgan said her father “became my driving and inspirational force. I not only fulfilled his ambition, but surpassed it by becoming an Olympic champion!” Morgan cited her meetings with Frederick Lane—Australia’s first Olympic gold medallist in swimming—and the Olympic athletics champion Marjorie Jackson-Nelson as key inspirational moments in her career. In February 1956, aged 13, she was taken for serious training by Frank Guthrie in Enfield.
In 1957, she won the 110-, 220-, and 440-yard treble at the Australian Championships in the absence of her main rivals, but from that point on her career was plagued by illness and weight problems. In 1958 she was selected in the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games purely as a relay swimmer, winning gold in the event. She went on to win the junior 110-yard freestyle at theAustralian Championships, despite causing two false starts. In the final, she lifted her head out of the water and saw her American opponent ahead of her, prompting her to regain the lead with a late burst in the third leg. In her only individual event, Morgan came sixth in the 400-metres freestyle. At her second Olympic Games, the 1960 Olympics in Rome, she only competed in the4 × 100 relay heats; her teammates won silver in the final. Her mother had to drive her to Enfield, as her father was busy with the plumbing business. Morgan quickly became one of the fastest junior swimmers in the state, winning the under-14 110-yards and 55-yards freestyle, as well as the 110- yard butterfly at the New South NSW Championships in 1956. She also won the State and Combined High School Championship in 1958. Although her youth Olympic training times were among her fastest, she prevented selection for the country’s youth Olympic squad. However, the Australian Swimming Union allowed her to join the squad for training in Townsville at her own expense.
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