Wilhelmina "Mina" Wylie (1891 – 6 July 1984) was
one of
Australia's first two female
Olympic
swimming representatives,
along with friend
Fanny Durack.
Early life
She grew
up in South
Coogee
, Sydney
, where her
father Henry Wylie built Wylie's Baths
in 1907. The Baths are the oldest surviving communal sea
baths in Australia.
Career
After
competing against each other in the Australian and New South Wales
Swimming Championships in the 1910/11 swimming season, Wylie and
Durack persuaded officials to let them attend the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm
, Sweden
where
women's swimming events were being held for the first time.
Durack won a gold medal and Wylie a silver medal. Twenty-seven
women contested the 100 metre event including six from Great
Britain and four from Germany. Swimsuits generally reached down to
the mid-thigh although some were sleeveless. The pool was built in
an inlet of Stockholm Harbour and competitors swam without lane
ropes. Durack's time in the 100m final was 1:22.2 and Wylie's was
1:25.4.
She competed in New South Wales and Australian championships from
1906 to 1934, winning 115 titles including every Australian and New
South Wales championship event in 1911, 1922 and 1924 in freestyle,
backstroke and breaststroke.
Mina Wylie was inducted into the
International Swimming Hall
of Fame in 1975.
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