Valerie Harris

In 1951, 15-year-old Valerie Harris thought she had knocked 3.6 seconds off the Southern Counties junior 200 yards breaststroke record. Her time was never ratified as a record, however, because only one stop-watch was tracking her. She would suffer another timing set back the following year, but this time at the Helsinki Olympics.

In August 1951, Harris was a virtual unknown in the swimming world but, by her 16th birthday in December that year, she had risen to become the fourth fastest female breaststroke swimmer in Britain. In May 1952 she set a Southern Counties 200 yards record of 2:43.2 in winning the Southern Olympic trial at Croydon. An office clerk at the time, Harris secured her place on the British Olympic squad by beating Scotland’s Elenor Gordon in the final trial at Blackpool.

At Helsinki, she would once more suffer heartbreak as a result of mis-timing. After her opening heat in the 200 metres breaststroke, she finished third and was given a time of 3:04.6. The 16 fastest from the first round qualified for the semi-finals, but then came the news that her time was actually 3:05.9, and she therefore failed to make the semis and was classified in 18th place. Just two months after the Olympics, Harris finished second to Elenor Gordon in the ASA 200 at Hove. It was the closest she came to a senior ASA title. In 1956 Valerie Harris married Frank Holland.