UNDERTHEHAMMER Golden Olympian sends treasured items to auction
SHE was a British Empire and Commonwealth Games double gold medallist, but incredibly, they still got her name wrong. When 19-year-old swimmer Anita arrived in Rome for the 1960 Summer Olympics she was issued with an official Team GB towelling robe, usefully labelled “A. Lonsborough”.
A nice personalised touch, maybe, apart from the fact that her name was Lonsbrough not Lonsborough.
York-born Anita wore the robe at the Stadio Olimpico del Nuoto in Rome on Saturday, August 27, after which date few people would get her name wrong.
That was the evening the Huddersfield Council Treasurer’s Office clerk made history when she won gold in the 200 metres breaststroke, and set a new world record.
Her gold medal was one of only two taken home by the British team from the Rome Olympics, and the last time a British woman swimmer would win an Olympic gold medal for 48 years.
Anita was philosophical about the “Lonsborough” howler: “A lot of people struggled with the name,” she said, “but not so much after the Olympic gold medal!”
The Team GB Olympics robe has remained a treasured memento of one of the most glittering careers in the history of British swimming, a career that saw Anita win a total of seven gold medals at Commonwealth, European and Olympic levels, set five world records and become the first sportswoman to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1962.
In April 1973, Anita was invited to do the honours when Bridlington officially opened a new swimming pool on the resort’s Promenade.
The Bridlington Leisure World site has since been replaced by the £25m East Riding Leisure centre.
Now in their 80s, Anita and her husband, the former world champion cyclist Hugh Porter, have decided that the time has come to thin out their treasures and let some of them move on into other collections.
They live in Wolverhampton but Anita wanted to send her things home to Yorkshire, where she was based throughout her competitive swimming career, and asked Scarborough auctioneers David Duggleby to handle it for them.
The collection entered in the auction includes her very first tracksuit top, a present from her parents when she started competitive swimming, festooned with the badges of the clubs and competitions in which she took part, including that of the English Schools Swimming Association whose championship she won in 1957.
The collection also includes the “primitive” team-issue swimming costume in which Anita shot to prominence, wearing it in the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games at Cardiff where she won her first two gold medals.
“Modern swimmers just would not believe it,” said Anita, laughing. “Grey elastic on the sides had to be used to make it tighter and the material held a ton of water in a race which really did slow you down.”
Meanwhile the Rome Olympics has contributed the blue tracksuit that Anita wore on the podium when she received the gold medal.
Auctioneer Graham Paddison said: “We do also have a second robe that Anita used at the 1962 Commonwealth Games where she won three gold medals. On that occasion they did manage to get the name right. Terrific!
The catalogue for the Decorative Art & Collectors Auction in which Anita’s memorabilia features is available online at davidduggleby. com and viewing will be taking place at the Vine Street Saleroom, Scarborough, from Wednesday, May 31 to Friday, June 2, from 9am until the start of the auction at 11am.
It is to be webcast with online bidding.