MBE

Born

1945

Occupation

Commonwealth or Empire Games Gold Medalist and Swimmer

Summary

Linda McGill was one of the Olympic stars banned by the amateur swimming authorities as punishment for alleged misbehaviour in 1964 at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Five months after being suspended, she became the first Australian to swim the English Channel. In 1967, she set a women's record for the swim of 9 hours 59 minutes and 57 seconds, a time that came very close to beating the men's record (9 hours and 35 minutes) as well. Thre months later, she became the first person to swim across Port Phillip Bay in Victoria, Australia. She swam the twenty-five miles from Portarlington to Frankston in 13 hours.