Full name Lucy Morton Name Lucy Morton Strokes Breaststroke | Sport Swimming National team Great Britain | |
Born 23 February 1898 ( 1898-02-23 ) Knutsford, England Died 26 August 1980(1980-08-26) (aged 82)
Blackpool, England | ||
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Lucy Morton (23 February 1898 – 26 August 1980), later known by her married name Lucy Heaton, was an English competition swimmer who represented Great Britain at the 1924 Summer Olympics and won a gold medal in the 200-metre breaststroke event.
Morton was born in 1898 at New Tatton in Cheshire, her father Alfred was in domestic service as a groom. The family moved to Blackpool and by the age of 10 Morton had joined the local amateur swimming club. By 1920 Morton held the world record for the 200-yard breaststroke and in 1924 was chosen to be part of the British team at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. Morton won the women's 200-metre breaststroke race, and became the first British woman to win an Olympic gold medal for swimming in an individual (non-relay) event.
Morton retired from competitive swimming after the Olympics and married Harry Heaton in 1927. She continued supporting swimming events for the rest of her life serving as a competitors' steward when she was aged 72. She died in Blackpool in 1980. She was inducted posthumously into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Pioneer Swimmer" in 1988.