Sandra Morgan

Infobox Swimmer
swimmername = Sandra Morgan


imagesize =
caption =
fullname = Sandra Morgan
nicknames =
nationality = AUS
strokes = Freestyle
club = Bankstown
collegeteam =
birthdate =birth date and age|df=yes|1942|06|06
birthplace =Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia
deathdate =
deathplace =
height = 170 cm
weight = 66.7 kg
medaltemplates =

Sandra Morgan (born 6 June 1942), known after marriage as Sandra Beavis, was an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1950s, who won a gold medal in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. This feat, at the age of 14 years and 6 months, made her the youngest Australian to have won an Olympic gold medal, a record that still stands. Morgan began serious training in early 1956 and won Olympic selection for the relay team as well as the individual 400 m freestyle. Morgan's selection in the final quartet raised controversy given her inexperience in top-level racing and her history of false starts. During the final, she lifted her head out of the water and saw her American opponent ahead of her, prompting her to put in a late burst and regain the lead for Australia in the third leg. Australia went on to win the relay in world record time. Morgan came sixth in the 400 m freestyle. In 1957, she won the 110-220-440 yd treble at the Australian championships after her main competition did not compete but from thereon her career was plagued by illness and weight problems. She was selected in the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games as a relay swimmer only, winning gold in the event. At her second Olympics in 1960 in Rome, she raced only in the relay heats; her team-mates went onto win the silver medal. She retired from competitive swimming following the Rome Olympics.

Early years

Morgan was born in the north-western New South Wales city of Tamworth and grew up in Punchbowl, a western suburb of Sydney.Howell, p. 135.] Morgan was the oldest of four children, with two younger sisters and one younger brother. Her father Barrington, a plumber by trade, had success as a swimmer in his childhood but lack of facilities in rural Australia curtailed his career. As a result he was determined that his daughter would become a national champion. Morgan recalled that her father "became my driving and inspirational force. I not only fulfilled his ambition, but surpassed it by becoming an Olympic champion!" Morgan also cited her meetings with Frederick Lane, Australia's first Olympic gold medallist in swimming, and later, the Olympic athletics champion Marjorie Jackson-Nelson as motivating her in her career.

Morgan learnt to swim at Bankstown at the age of seven. She was initially a slow learner and the coach used a long pole attached to a rope and belt to maintain her safety. She was given twice the number of lessons as the other students. By the age of eight, she had won the district championship and in 1953, aged 11, she won the New South Wales (NSW) primary school championships. In February 1956, aged 13, she was taken for serious training. Her father transferred her to the tutelage of Frank Guthrie in Enfield. At the time Guthrie was regarded as the best coaches in the state, guiding Gary Chapman and Lorraine Crapp; both of whom would win Olympic medals with Crapp winning a gold medal later that year at the 1956 Summer Olympics.Howell, p. 136.] Her mother had to drive her to Enfield, as her father was busy with the plumbing business.

National selection

Under Guthrie's coaching, she quickly became one of the youngest junior swimmers in the state, winning the under 14 110 yd and 50 yd freestyle as well as the 110 yd butterfly at the New South Wales Championships in 1956. She went on to win the junior 110 yd freestyle at the Australian Championships, although not before her lack of experience caused two false starts. After the national championships, he competed for Marrickville Junior Girls' High School and won the State Combined High School Championship in the 110 yd freestyle.

Although her times were among the fastest in the country, her young age meant that she was not selected in the Olympic training squad. However, the Australian Swimming Union allowed her to join the squad for training in Townsville if she could afford to pay the expenses. Her impoverished family was unable to meet these costs but a fundraising campaign from the Bankstown community allowed her to make the trip. Training alongside swimmers such as Crapp, Alva Colquhuon, Faith Leech and Dawn Fraser saw Morgan's times steadily improve. The team were expected to swim three times a day, totalling more than 16 kilometres. However, she was not regarded as likely to be selected in the final team.

Following the training camp, a series of selection trials were held in Brisbane and Melbourne. In three convert|110|yd|abbr=on races, she came third, fifth and fourth respectively, with a best time of 1 m 7.3 s. She also managed a best performance of third in a time of 5 m 10.0 s in the convert|440|yd|abbr=on freestyle behind Crapp and Fraser. Australia was entitled to three representatives in each individual event, thus allowing Morgan to compete in her first Olympics aged 14 . Morgan missed out in the 100 m freestyle as Fraser, Crapp and Leech were selected,Howell, p. 134.] but she gained an individual berth in the 400 m behind Fraser and Crapp. She was also named as one of six swimmers in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay squad, the first time Australia had entered a team in this event at the Olympics. Morgan was the subject of media comment which regarded her as the weak link in the relay team, placing her under substantial pressure.

1956 Summer Olympics

Arriving in Melbourne for the Olympics, Morgan was not assured of a place in the final quartet for the relay. In the heats, Fraser and Crapp were rested and the remaining four swimmers qualified the team. Morgan swam the second leg in 1 m 5.4 s, the fastest of the quartet, securing her position, along with Leech, in the final team. Australia qualified quickest into the final, winning the second heat by 3.1 s. They were 1.8 and 2.3 s faster than South Africa and the United States respectively, both of which swam in the first heat.cite web |url=http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1956/SWI/womens-4-x-100-metres-freestyle-relay.html |title=Swimming at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games:Women's 4 × 100 metres Freestyle Relay |publisher=Sports Reference |accessdate=2008-09-08]

The selection of Leech and Morgan generated controversy, as they were the youngest swimmers in the squad and lacked experience at open level swimming, having both debuted at senior Australian level in 1956; Morgan had false started twice at the Australian Championships while Leech had been too ill to compete earlier in the year. Australia was the favourite for the race, having swept the medals in the individual 100 m event; Fraser, Crapp and Leech finishing first, second and third.Howell, p. 131.] The favouritism was even more marked because Fraser and Crapp were three seconds faster than anyone else in the world.cite web |url=http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1956/SWI/womens-100-metres-freestyle.html |title=Swimming at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games:Women's 100 metres Freestyle |publisher=Sports Reference |accessdate=2008-09-08]

The Australian team made a poor start in the final when Fraser almost stopped during the first leg, believing a false start had occurred after hearing a second gun shot. She finished her leg in 64.0 s, almost two seconds slower than her personal best, but still with a 2.3 s over the United States' Sylvia Ruuska. Leech, swimming the second leg, maintained the lead in the first 50 m but faded in the second half and finished in 65.1 s; the Australian lead cut to 0.8 s. Morgan dived in for the third leg but was then overhauled and passed by Nancy Simons, swimming for the Americans. With 25 m left, Morgan took her head out of the water, a cardinal sin, and seeing the American a bodylength in front, responded with a surge to regain a 0.7 s lead into the final changeover. Crapp then established a 2.2 s margin to secure an Australian gold medal, setting a world record time of 4 m 17.1 s.Howell, p. 132.] Andrews, pp. 307–308.] The victory was the first time that Australia had made a clean sweep of the sprint relay and individual events for both men and women. It had previously only been achieved by the Americans in 1920 in Antwerp. Australia would not win another female swimming relay event at the Olympics until the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. The victory saw Morgan become Australia's youngest gold medallist, a record that still stands.Howell, p. 136.] Andrews, pp. 358–359.]

Morgan's individual event was the 400 m freestyle. She set a new personal best by 2.3 s of 5 m 7.8 s in the heats, just 0.2 s behind Marley Shriver of the United States, who set a new Olympic record. The mark was quickly surpassed in later heats by Fraser and Crapp, but Morgan nevertheless easily qualified for the final, almost seven seconds faster than the cutoff.cite web |url=http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1956/SWI/womens-400-metres-freestyle.html |title=Swimming at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games:Women's 400 metres Freestyle |publisher=Sports Reference |accessdate=2008-09-08] The final was held the day after the relay final. However, Morgan was unable to repeat her heat performance, finishing sixth in 5 m 14.3 s, far outside her personal best. Had she repeated her heat swim, she would have placed fourth, just 0.7 s from the bronze medal. Nevertheless, she noted that "I was so happy that I had made the final in an individual event in the Olympic Games, for this was my first appearance in a senior competition."

Morgan was honoured with a civic reception on her return to the City of Bankstown and presented with a gold watch and a life membership to the Bankstown Pool. However, her stay at the Olympic village had given rise to a new problem. She enjoyed the food so much that she had gained convert|9.5|kg|lb|link=on in weight, and now stood at convert|170|cm|ftin|link=on and weighed convert|76.2|kg|lb. This was to herald the start of a continual problem with her weight.Howell, p. 137.]

Later years

After the Olympics, Crapp and Fraser took a break from competitive swimming, while Leech retired. This allowed Morgan an opening, and she won both the junior and open sprint titles at the 1957 NSW State Championships. She followed this by winning five titles at the Australian titles in Canberra; the convert|110|yd|abbr=on, 220 yd and convert|440|yd|abbr=on freestyle, in times of 1 m 7.8 s, 2 29.3 s and 5 21.6 s respectively, times that were slower than she had produced in 1956. She also was part of the New South Wales team that won the 4 × 100 yd freestyle and medley relays.

In 1958, Crapp and Fraser returned, while Ilsa Konrads emerged as a leading swimmer. At the national championships Morgan came third in both the convert|110|yd|abbr=on and convert|440|yd|abbr=on freestyle events; Fraser winning both and Crapp and Konrads second in the convert|100|yd|abbr=on and convert|400|yd|abbr=on respectively. Morgan was selected for the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Wales, but only in the 4 × 110 yd freestyle relay. Along with Fraser, Crapp and Konrads, she had broken the world record for the event in March in Australia with a time of 4 m 18.9 s. At the Empire Games in Cardiff, Fraser, Crapp, Morgan and Colquhuon lowered Australia's world record to a time of 4 m 17.4 s to win the gold medal.

After the Empire Games, the Australian team returned to Australia via France, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Italy and Singapore for a series of racing events. Morgan's best performances were at the Dutch and French championships, where she came third in the 400 m events. In 1959, she placed third in both the convert|440|yd|abbr=on and convert|880|yd|abbr=on freestyle events at the Australian championships. Her swimming career was then interrupted due to Bronchitis, later developing into bronchial pneumonia. The illness forced her to take an extended period of rest. Her chest problems remained while competing at the 1960 Australian Championships where she came third in the convert|220|yd|abbr=on and convert|440|yd|abbr=on freestyle and fifth in the convert|110|yd|abbr=on freestyle. She was selected for the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome in the 4 × 100 m freestyle. She swam the first leg in the heats, posting a time of 1 m 5.5 s, giving Australia a 1.0 s lead. Australia led at every change and went on to win its heat by five seconds and qualified fastest for the final.cite web |url=http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1960/SWI/womens-4-x-100-metres-freestyle-relay.html |title=Swimming at the 1960 Rome Summer Games:Women's 4 × 100 metres Freestyle Relay |publisher=Sports Reference |accessdate=2008-09-08] However, Morgan posted the slowest leg of the Australian quartet and was dropped when Fraser and Ilsa Konrads were brought into the team for the final, where Australia won the silver medal. Under the rules of the time, heat swimmers were not awarded medals if the final quartet placed in the top three teams. [Andrews, p. 323.] Suffering from periodic chest pain, she retired from competitive swimming in December 1960.

Morgan later married and had three daughters, all of whom enjoyed victories in swimming at school and district level. She experimented with coaching, but found the competition unappealing and later became a schoolteacher. In 1978, she began teaching handicapped children to swim in her backyard pool.

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