Fanny Durack

Fanny Durack was the first great female swimmer, winning the 1912 Olympic 100 metre freestyle, the first Olympic swimming event for women. She and her teammate, Mina Wylie, wanted to compete in the other 1912 women’s swimming event, the 4x100 freestyle relay, and offered to each swim two legs but were denied. They competed that year for Australasia but they had only the two female swimmers. Durack wanted to compete at the 1920 Antwerpen Olympics but she developed an appendicitis followed by pneumonia, which prevented her from making the trip.

Durack set multiple records in her career, in an era when marks were not always officially recorded and the pools were of varied lengths. She is credited for holding the 100 metre freestyle world record from 1912-20, the 200 metre freestyle world record from 1915-21, the 500 metre freestyle world record in 1916-17, and the one-mile freestyle world record from 1914-26. Along with Wylie she made two swimming tours / exhibitions in the United States and one in Great Britain.

Durack was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1967. Sarah Durack Avenue at the Sydney Olympic Park was named in her honor. She was included on the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001 and in 2022 became an inaugural inductee of the Swimming Australia Hall of Fame.