For the community also known as Belle Moore, see Bellmore, Indiana. For other people, see Isabella Moore (disambiguation).
Moore in 1914 | |||||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Isabella McAlpine Moore | ||||||||||||||
Nickname | Belle | ||||||||||||||
National team | Great Britain | ||||||||||||||
Born | (1894-10-23)23 October 1894 Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom | ||||||||||||||
Died | 7 March 1975(1975-03-07) (aged 80) Baltimore, Maryland, United States | ||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||
Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||
Strokes | Freestyle | ||||||||||||||
Club | Premier Club | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Isabella "Belle" McAlpine Moore (23 October 1894 – 7 March 1975), later known by her married name Belle Cameron, was a Scottish competitive swimmer who represented Great Britain in the Olympics.
At the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, Moore won a gold medal as a member of the first-place British women's team in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay, together with teammates Jennie Fletcher, Annie Speirs and Irene Steer. The British women set a new world record in the event of 5:52.8, beating the German and Austrian women's relay teams by a wide margin. Swedish King Gustav V presented Moore and her teammates with their gold medals and Olympic laurels.
Moore was trained as a longer-distance swimmer, but only 100-metre swimming events were available for women at the 1912 Olympics; she was eliminated in the semi-finals of the women's 100-metre freestyle. At 17 years and 226 days old, she remains the youngest British woman to win an Olympic gold medal; she was also the only Scottish woman to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics when Kathleen Dawson also won gold in the mixed 4 x 100 medley relay.
Moore was born the eighth child of nine in her family. She started training at an early age and, by 17, already worked as a swimming instructor. In 1919, she married George Cameron, a naval architect; together, they moved to Maryland, United States, where Moore gave birth to a daughter, Doris, and son, George. She spent the rest of her life in Maryland where she taught swimming to thousands of children. She was posthumously inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Pioneer Swimmer" in 1989.
See also
- List of members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame
- List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)
- World record progression 4 × 100 metres freestyle relay
References
- "Isabella Moore". Olympedia. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Isabella Moore". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
- ^ Maggie Barry, 'Forgotten Olympic Golden Girl Belle Moore Remembered 100 Years After Landmark Win", Daily Record (29 April 2012). Retrieved 2 June 2015.
- Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Swimming at the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games: Women's 4 × 100 metres Freestyle Relay". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 8 October 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
- ^ "Belle Moore (GBR)". ISHOF.org. International Swimming Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
External links
- Belle Moore at the International Swimming Hall of Fame
- Belle Moore at Olympics.com
- Belle Moore at Team GB
- Belle Moore at Olympedia
- Belle Moore at the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame
- 1894 births
- 1975 deaths
- British female freestyle swimmers
- Scottish female freestyle swimmers
- World record setters in swimming
- Olympic swimmers for Great Britain
- Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain
- Olympic gold medalists in swimming
- Swimmers at the 1912 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 1912 Summer Olympics
- Scottish Olympic competitors
- Scottish emigrants to the United States
- Swimmers from Glasgow