Irene Steer

Irene Steer was a Welsh freestyle swimmer, born on 10 August 1889 and died on 18 April 1977. She began as a breaststroke swimmer but changed to the crawl in 1908 and 1909. From 1907 to 1913 she was unbeaten as Welsh champion, and race reports called her beautiful, neat and the most graceful swimmer. She shared the world record for 100 metres in 1910, 1912 and 1913. In 1912, the first year women could swim at the Olympics, she won gold in the 4 x 100 metre freestyle relay at Stockholm, swimming the anchor leg, though she missed the final of the individual 100 metres. She travelled to the venue on her own and was among fewer than 50 women of 2,500 athletes. She later married William Nicholson, a Cardiff City chairman, and a Purple Plaque honouring her was installed at Roath Park Lake in September 2025.