Clare Dennis (AUS)

Honor Swimmer (1982)

The information on this page was written the year of their induction.

FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1932 gold (200m breaststroke); WORLD RECORDS: 2 (200m, 100m breaststroke); COMMONWEALTH GAMES: 1934 gold (200m breaststroke); AMERICAN RECORDS (Long Course): 2 (200m breaststroke).

Australia had two golden periods of swimming prominence — one pioneer and one modern, when they dominated the world of swimming. In between these periods, they had the late Clare Dennis, 1932 Queen of the Olympic and World breaststrokers and 1934 British Commonwealth champion. Her World Records for the 100 and 200 breaststroke were set in 1932 and 1933. In 1932, when she set the Australian standards for ladies breaststroke which would last many years, she was also Australia’s only Olympic swimming champion and the only Aussie women’s Olympic swim champion from 1912 until 1956, a span of 44 years.