10/12/2025
The Life of Karen Muir🦉
Karen Muir was born on 16 September 1952 in Kimberley, South Africa. She grew up there and attended Diamantveld High School, matriculating in 1970.
On 10 August 1965, at only 12 years, 10 months, and 25 days old, she became the youngest person in the world to break a sporting world record in any discipline. She achieved this at the ASA National Junior Championships in Blackpool, England, where she swam the 110 yard backstroke in 1:08.7.
Between 1965 and 1970 she set fifteen world records in backstroke events across the 100 m, 200 m, 110 yd, and 220 yd distances. She won 22 South African national titles and three U.S. national titles. Because of the international sporting boycott of South Africa, she never competed in the Olympic Games.
In 1980 she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
After retiring from competitive swimming, she studied medicine at the University of the Orange Free State and later worked as a doctor in several African countries. From 2000 onward she served as a family physician in Vanderhoof, British Columbia, Canada.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009. In January 2012 it was reported that the cancer had spread. She died on 1 April 2013 in Mossel Bay, South Africa, at the age of 60.
Kimberley’s Olympic sized pool was named the Karen Muir Swimming Pool in her honour, and she was known locally as the “Tepid Torpedo.” When she visited Kimberley in 2009, she donated her Springbok blazer to Diamantveld High School.
