In 1962, Anita Lonsbrough became the first woman to feature on the roll of honour for BBC Sports Personality of the Year, or Sportsview Personality of the Year, as the award was still known at the time. By that stage of her career, Yorkshire-born Lonsbrough, 21, was already an Olympic gold-medallist, having won the women’s 200-metre breaststroke at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome in a world-record time of 2:49.5. She continued in similar fashion in 1962, during which she won a total of seven medals.
In August, at European Swimming Championships in Leipzig, East Germany, Lonsbrough won a further gold medal in the women’s 200-metre breaststroke, beatung Klenie Bimolt of the Netherlands and Ursula Küper of East Germany in the final. She also collected a silver medal in the
inaugural women’s 400-metre individual medley and, alongside Mary-Anne Cotterill, Linda Ludgrove and Diana Wilkinson, a bronze medal in the women’s 4 x 100-metre medley relay.
Later in the year, at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Perth, Western Australia, Lonsborough won three more gold medals, in the women’s 110-yard breaststroke, the women’s 220-yard breaststroke and the women’s 440-yard individual medley. She also won another silver medal, in the women’s 4 x 110-yard medley relay.
In the eyes of readers of the ‘Radio Times’, Lonsborough had done enough to outpoint athlete Dorothy Hyman – who had won a gold medal in the women’s 100 metres at the European Athletic Championships in Belgrade, Yugoslavia and two more, in the women’s 100 yards and women’s 220 yards at the aforementioned Commonwealth Games – in the public vote. Lonsborough’s teammate, Linda Ludgrove finished third in the poll, having won individual gold medals in the women’s 110-yard backstroke and women’s 220-yard backstroke at the Commonwealth Games, in addition to her relay medals.
Lonsbrough was further honoured in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 1963, becoming Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). The following year, she carried the British flag at the opening ceremony of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, making her the first woman to do so.