Karen Muir

Karen Muir (16 September 1952 – 1 April 2013)

Biography On 10 August 1965, aged twelve years, Karen Muir became the youngest person to break a sporting world record in any discipline when she swam the 110 yards backstroke in 1m 08.7s at the ASA National Junior Championships in Blackpool, England.

Over the following five years Muir would go on to set fifteen world records in the backstroke at 100 metres, 200 metres, 110 yards, and 220 yards. She also won 22 South African Championships and three US National Championships. Due to the sporting boycott of South Africa during her active career, she was never able to participate in an Olympic Games. During 2009, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Muir died from the disease in Mossel Bay, South Africa on 1 April 2013, at the age of 60.

Kimberley's Olympic-sized swimming pool was named the Karen Muir Swimming Pool in honour of the young swimmer, who was nicknamed locally as the "Tepid Torpedo". When Muir revisited the city in 2009 she donated her Springbok blazer to the Diamantveld High School.