Jean Wrigley

The daughter of a Lancashire cotton worker, Jean Wrigley was a swimming sensation from the age of 12 when she won the 1948 Northern Counties Junior Ladies’ 100 yards breaststroke title. She was runner-up the following year when she also won both the junior and senior Manchester titles. In 1950, when still only 14, she set an English Amateur 100 yards breaststroke record of 1:17.0 at Lancaster when she won the national girls title. She lowered the record on two more occasions, the last time being in her hometown of Oldham in May 1952 when she swam 1:16.04.

Wrigley retained the girls title in 1951 when she also finished third in the senior 200 yards ASA breaststroke behind Elenor Gordon and Elizabeth Church. Wrigley won both the Northern Counties senior and junior titles in 1952 and was called up for the 200 metres at the Helsinki Olympics. She was still only 16 at the time but reached the semi-final and was classified 12th.