Belle Moore

Belle Moore
Moore in 1914
Personal information
Full name Isabella Mary Moore
Nickname(s) "Belle"
National team  Great Britain
Born (1894-10-23)23 October 1894
Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Died 7 March 1975(1975-03-07) (aged 80)
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Freestyle
Club Premier Club

Isabella "Belle" Mary Moore (23 October 1894 – 7 March 1975), later known by her married name Belle Cameron, was a Scottish competition swimmer who represented Great Britain in the Olympics.

At the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, Moore won a gold medal as a member of the first-place British women's team in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay, together with teammates Jennie Fletcher, Annie Speirs and Irene Steer.[1][2] The British women set a new world record in the event of 5:52.8, beating the German and Austrian women's relay teams by a wide margin.[3] Swedish King Gustav V presented Moore and her teammates with their gold medals and Olympic laurels.[4]

Moore was trained as a longer-distance swimmer, but only 100-metre swimming events were available for women at the 1912 Olympics; she was eliminated in the semi-finals of the women's 100-metre freestyle.[1] At 17 years and 226 days old, she remains the youngest British woman to win an Olympic gold medal; she is also the only Scottish woman to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming.[2]

Moore was born the eighth child of nine in her family.[4] She started training in early age and by 17 already worked as a swimming instructor.[2] In 1919, she married George Cameron, a naval architect; together they moved to Maryland, United States, where Moore gave birth to a daughter, Doris, and son, George.[2] She spent the rest of her life in Maryland where she taught swimming to thousands of children.[4] She was posthumously inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Pioneer Swimmer" in 1989.[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes, Isabella Moore. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Maggie Barry, 'Forgotten Olympic golden girl Belle Moore remembered 100 years after landmark win", Daily Record (29 April 2012). Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  3. ↑ Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Swimming at the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games, Women's 4 × 100 metres Freestyle Relay Archived 8 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine.. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 International Swimming Hall of Fame, Honourees, Belle Moore (GBR). Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  • Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill. "Isabella Moore". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC.
Belle Moore, Jennie Fletcher, Annie Speirs and Irene Steer at the 1912 Olympics
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