Margaret Gibson had become the first SA swimmer to break a world record in swimming.
Given that many swimmers, in the early to mid 1900s, reached their peak in their teens and retired by their early 20s, Margaret Gibson was a late starter.
One warm day in 1950, swim coach Spencer Major, noticed a young girl swimming with her family at Glenelg Beach. He approached her mother, adamant that the 12-year-old had the makings of a champion.
He had a good eye for identifying swimming potential. Margaret Gibson went onto win all her state age-group sprint championships, most of them in record time.
She remained a member of the SA Swimming Team from 1953, just three years after she was discovered, until 1958.
By 1956, and after switching coaches from Spencer Major to Harry Gallagher, she was swimming with the great Dawn Fraser. That duo, plus two youngsters, Dale Krieg (aged 12) and Carlene Giles (aged 14) won the 4 x100 freestyle relay at the Australian Championships, breaking the Australian record.
Gibson was named in the 1956 Olympic team for Melbourne. However, as there were no indoor training pools in Adelaide, the entire Olympic swim squad trained in Townsville, Queensland. It was during the trials that Gibson helped break two world records as a member of the 4x100m freestyle relay.
She had become the first SA swimmer to break a world record in swimming.
At the Olympic Games, she swam in the heats of the 4x100m relay when Australia came first but was not chosen to swim in the final.
Margaret Gibson has been inducted into the Swimming SA Hall of Fame.
