Jill Norfolk

North London hairdresser Jill Norfolk was a member of the St. Pancras´ Ladies Swimming Club in 1957 when, at the age of 10, she beat girls older than herself to win the club backstroke championship. Eight years later at the age of 18, and after years of sacrificing her teenage years to her sport, she decided to retire to live the life of a normal 1960s teenager.

The years of dedication paid off for Norfolk, however, and she appeared at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games at Perth, Australia, and 1964 Tokyo Olympics, but without picking up a medal. She failed to reach both the 110- and 220-yards backstroke final in Perth but reached the 200 back final at Tokyo where she finished eighth and last with Linda Ludgrove ahead of her in sixth place. Having been a reserve for the 4x100 medley relay team at Tokyo, Norfolk was surprisingly selected for the final after Ludgrove was suddenly dropped at the last minute. Sixty years later, an explanation for this decision was still not forthcoming from the ASA (now Swim England).

Despite not winning an ASA title, Norfolk did finish second to Ludgrove in both the 110 and 220 yards in 1964, and that same year enjoyed her greatest moment when, during the international match against Russia at Blackpool, she became the first woman under 70 seconds for the 110 yards backstroke as she swam a world record 1:09.8. Furthermore, she also deprived Ludgrove of her British record. At the same event, along with Diana Harris, Sandra Keen, and Glenda Phillips, Norfolk broke the world 4 x110 yards medley relay record with a time of 4:43.4.

Despite her retirement from competitive and international swimming in 1965, Norfolk continued swimming for her club, Stoke Newington SC. She later participated in Masters events and in 1988 won a silver medal at the FINA World Masters at Brisbane, Australia. Norfolk married Jeffrey Whyman in 1967.