Nancy Lyons was selected to represented Australia in the 200 metres breaststroke at the 1948 London Olympics, but there were no funds to get her to England. Nonetheless, she and the community raised the money and made the trip, where she took silver in that event behind Nel van Vliet of the Netherlands. Her next stop was the 1950 British Empire Games, where she captured silver in the 220 yards breaststroke, behind Scotland’s Elenor Gordon-McKay, and won gold in the 3x110 yards medley, alongside Judy-Joy Davies and Marjory McQuade. She returned to the Olympics in 1952, but could only place 15th. She attended Queensland University, later competed in masters-level competitions, and was inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame in 2019.
Date of birth is uncertain. Commonwealth Games data also has a DOB of 12 October 1930, but multiple sources confirm the DOB listed above.
Australia