Stella Mitchell

A member of Hampstead Ladies SC, 16-year-old breaststroke swimmer Stella Mitchell burst onto the scene in 1963 and within a six-week period had won an ASA title and set two world records. Mitchell won the 220 yards ASA title at Blackpool in August 1963 and the following month, in six nations international, also at Blackpool, she lowered Anita Lonsbrough´s British and world record with a time of 2:51.4. The 1960 Olympic silver medallist Wiltrud Urselmann was second, two yards behind Mitchell. Three weeks after setting a new world best, Mitchell lowered it again to 2:50.2 in an international against Hungary, once again at Blackpool.

A London secretary, Mitchell went on to win three more ASA 220 titles, in 1964-66, two of them with Heston SC, who she joined for the 1965 season. She went to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and finished fourth in the individual 200 metres breaststroke final and fifth with the 4x100 medley relay squad. Mitchell won a silver medal, however, in the 220 yards at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games at Kingston, Jamaica, but failed to win a medal at that year´s Europeans at Utrecht, despite reaching the 200 final.

Although Mitchell announced her retirement in 1967, she made a comeback a few months later with the intention of getting into the 1968 Mexico Olympic squad. Despite a return to form, however, those plans never materialised. Mitchell later married Colin Woolhead and became a swimming coach at Southgate Swimming Club, and later was head coach at the newly formed Enfield Swim Club in 2011.