Margaret Edwards

Margaret Edwards tried to join Heston Swimming club at the age of nine but they refused her. That was in 1948, and within ten years she went on to become a British Empire and Commonwealth Games gold and silver medallist, a European championship silver medal winner and Olympics bronze medallist.

Edwards was refused permission to join the Heston Club on the grounds that “she was not a swimmer!” So, determined as she was, she learned to swim within a year and upon her return from a family holiday in Devon re-applied, and was duly accepted as a member. For two years she swam as a breaststroker until one day she was asked to swim backstroke with another swimmer. That was the start of what would be an outstanding new career for Edwards.

Within two years Edwards had reached the final of the National Junior Championship, and the following year broke every district, County, English, and British backstroke record at both junior and senior level, and she was still only 15. The year before the 1956 Olympics she made her Great Britain international début but the 17-year-old then staked her claim to fame by winning Olympic bronze in the 100 metres final behind fellow Briton Judy Grinham and the American Carin Cone, who both had to swim world best times to beat Edwards.

Edwards broke three world records in 1957 and 1958, and won silver medals at both the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games at Cardiff and the European Championships at Budapest. On both occasions she missed out on gold when beaten into second place by Grinham each time. Edwards did win a gold medal with the medley relay squad at the Cardiff Games.

Edwards was runner-up four years in succession (1954-57) in the ASA final, and was third in 1958 before winning her first title in 1959. She continued swimming for Britain until 1960 and retired from the sport after winning her second ASA title in 1961 in what was supposed to be her last competitive race.

After leaving school Edwards worked as a teaching assistant and did her teacher-training at Goldsmith College, Lewisham. She represented them at the 1959 British Universities Championships and won three titles. Edwards later taught in a London preparatory school until 1965, when she retired shortly after the birth of her first son. She had married Robin Wilding, a former England junior badminton player, in August 1963.

Edwards continued swimming, purely to keep up her fitness levels and did not swim again competitively until 1991, after the arrival of Masters swimming. She then continued to break world records in each age group up to 65 before taking a five-year break from the sport to concentrate on the new sporting love in her life, golf. She returned to swimming at the age of 70 and continued breaking age group records.

In her retirement years, Edwards spent half the year living in Sussex and swimming with the Sussex Martlets, and the other half of the year in the warmer climes of New Zealand.