Pauline Musgrove

Backstroke swimmer Pauline Musgrove was runner-up three years in succession (1951-53) to Margaret McDowall in the ASA 100/110 yards final. Musgrove competed at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics just four days after her 16th birthday, but failed to qualify for the final after finishing third in her heat, won by the eventual gold medallist Joan Harrison of South Africa. Musgrove was classified joint-tenth.

A couple of months prior to the Helsinki Games, Musgrove set a British native record 1:08.1 for the 100 yards. Having been trying to win the girls’ 100 yards title since the age of 11, she eventually won it for the first time one month after the Olympics.

In 1959 Musgrove married fellow international swimmer and fellow York City Baths Club member Alan Clarkson. He became a leading official in British and international swimming and officiated at five Olympic Games 1976-92. Already an OBE, he became the first person to receive a long service award from the British Olympic Association, in 2007.