Belle Moore

Belle Moore
Moore in 1914
Personal information
Full nameIsabella McAlpine Moore
NicknameBelle
National teamGreat Britain
Born(1894-10-23)23 October 1894
Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Died7 March 1975(1975-03-07) (aged 80)
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesFreestyle
ClubPremier Club
Medal record
Women's swimming
Representing Great Britain
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1912 Stockholm 4×100 m freestyle

Isabella "Belle" McAlpine Moore (23 October 1894 – 7 March 1975), later known by her married name Belle Cameron, was a Scottish competitive swimmer who represented Great Britain in the Olympics.[1]

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.[2][3] 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.[4] Swedish King Gustav V presented Moore and her teammates with their gold medals and Olympic laurels.[5]

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.[2] At 17 years and 226 days old, she remains the youngest British woman to win an Olympic gold medal; she was also the only Scottish woman to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics when Kathleen Dawson also won gold in the mixed 4 x 100 medley relay.[3]

Moore was born the eighth child of nine in her family.[5] She started training at an early age and, by 17, already worked as a swimming instructor.[3] 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.[3] She spent the rest of her life in Maryland where she taught swimming to thousands of children.[5] She was posthumously inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Pioneer Swimmer" in 1989.[5]

  1. ^ "Isabella Moore". Olympedia. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  2. ^ a b Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Isabella Moore". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d Maggie Barry, 'Forgotten Olympic Golden Girl Belle Moore Remembered 100 Years After Landmark Win", Daily Record (29 April 2012). Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  4. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Swimming at the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games: Women's 4 × 100 metres Freestyle Relay". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 8 October 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  5. ^ a b c d "Belle Moore (GBR)". ISHOF.org. International Swimming Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.

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