7 Heroines of Commonwealth Games Past

May 9, 2024

In this week’s Commonwealth Games feature, we pay homage to seven remarkable British women who have represented the selfless beauty of sport over the past 80 years.

1. Phyllis Harding: The English swimmer is one of the original pioneers of British women’s sport. She won four medals (two gold, one silver, one bronze) at the 1930 and 1934 British Empire Games and also competed in four Olympic games. Her greatest Olympic triumph came at the age of 16 in 1924, when she won the silver in the 100m backstroke. Harding passed away in 1992.

2. Dame Mary Glen-Haig: Fencer Glen-Haig (pictured above) won gold in the individual foil at the 1950 British Empire Games for England and again at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. She also competed in four Olympic games, and notably worked the evening shift at King’s College Hospital the night before she finished 8th at the 1948 Olympics in London. After a successful career in hospital administration, Glen-Haig became the first female member of the IOC in 1982. She was appointed MBE in 1971, promoted to CBE in 1977, and was made a Dame in 1993. Glen-Haig, who will celebrate her 96th birthday in July, continued to fence until her 70s and served as the British ambassador for the London 2012 Olympics.

3. Anita Lonsbrough MBE: Lonsborough (pictured above with teammate Diana Wilkinson) won six swimming medals at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games, taking two gold in 1958 and three gold and a silver in 1962. She was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year following her record-breaking performance at the 1962 Games, and received an MBE a year later. The English swimmer also won gold in the 200m breaststroke at the 1960 Olympics in Rome and remained the last British woman to win Olympic swimming gold until Rebecca Adlington did it in 2008. She is currently a sports commentator for The Daily Telegraph.

4. Rosemary Payne: Scottish athlete Payne won the gold in discus throw when Scotland hosted the Commonwealth Games in 1970 and took silver in the same event four years later. Remarkably, she was 37 and 41 years old respectively when she medalled. Payne later competed in the World Masters and European Veteran Championships in not only discus but shot put, 100m, high jump, and triple jump as well. The 80-year-old has in all held 19 British age group records-including 5 current Masters world records.

5. Kirsty Wade (née McDermott): The Welsh athlete (pictured above), who competed under both her maiden and married names, is one of the UK’s all-time great middle distance runners. She won gold medals in the 8oom and 1500m distances in 1986, four years after she took her first 800m gold in 1982. She later competed in the 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympics. Wade remains the Welsh record holder for the 800m and mile and is second on the all-time UK records list for the 800m, 1000m, and mile.

6. Kelly Morgan MBE: Morgan is a 23-time Welsh Badminton champion (13 ladies’ singles titles, 6 ladies’ doubles titles, and 4 mixed doubles’ crowns). She won Commonwealth gold in 1998 and also competed in three Olympics (1996, 2000, and 2004). Morgan was awarded an MBE in 2002 for services to sport.

7. Karen Atkinson MBE (née Aspinall): The English netballer (pictured below) has represented her country in the 1998, 2002, and 2006 Commonwealth Games, winning bronze medals in all three. Atkinson was appointed an MBE in the 2014 New Years Honours.

Erin Walters, Sportsister
The Women’s Sport Magazine

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