Today in Kimberley's History
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Karen Muir from Kimberley dies at the age of 60 - 2013
Karen Muir, swimming world record-breaker, was born and raised in Kimberley and attended the Diamantveld High School. On 10 August 1965, aged 12 years, 10 months, and 25 days, Karen Muir became the youngest person to break a sporting world record in any discipline when she swam the 110 yards backstroke in 1m 08.7s at the ASA National Junior Championships in Blackpool, England.
During the following five years she would set no less than fifteen world records in the backstroke at 100 metres, 200 metres, 110 yards, and 220 yards. She also won 22 South African Championships and three US National Championships. Because of apartheid she could not participate in an Olympic Games. (South African was banned from the Olympics from 1964 on account of its apartheid policies, until the ban was lifted in 1992). Karen Muir was elected to the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1980.
Muir matriculated in 1970 and retired from competitive swimming. She went on to qualify as a medical doctor at the University of the Orange Free State and in the following years practised in the African continent. In 2000 she moved to British Columbia, Canada. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009, she died in Mossel Bay, aged 60, on 1 April 2013.
Kimberley's Olympic-sized swimming pool was named the Karen Muir Swimming Pool in honour of the young swimmer, whose nickname was "Tepid Torpedo". When Karen Muir revisited the city in 2009 she donated her Springbok blazer to the Diamantveld High School.
At the time of her death, Sol Plaatje Municipality spokesman Sello Matsie expressed condolences to her family and friends, adding: Karen Muir “remains, even in death, an icon, and one of the city’s most honoured residents. It is especially important that we continue honouring her through the sport that she loved. We should use her passing to promote swimming, especially among girls…The name Karen Muir in Kimberley will live on.”
(Text courtesy of McGregor Museum in Kimberley)
Karen Muir, swimming world record-breaker, was born and raised in Kimberley and attended the Diamantveld High School. On 10 August 1965, aged 12 years, 10 months, and 25 days, Karen Muir became the youngest person to break a sporting world record in any discipline when she swam the 110 yards backstroke in 1m 08.7s at the ASA National Junior Championships in Blackpool, England.
During the following five years she would set no less than fifteen world records in the backstroke at 100 metres, 200 metres, 110 yards, and 220 yards. She also won 22 South African Championships and three US National Championships. Because of apartheid she could not participate in an Olympic Games. (South African was banned from the Olympics from 1964 on account of its apartheid policies, until the ban was lifted in 1992). Karen Muir was elected to the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1980.
Muir matriculated in 1970 and retired from competitive swimming. She went on to qualify as a medical doctor at the University of the Orange Free State and in the following years practised in the African continent. In 2000 she moved to British Columbia, Canada. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009, she died in Mossel Bay, aged 60, on 1 April 2013.
Kimberley's Olympic-sized swimming pool was named the Karen Muir Swimming Pool in honour of the young swimmer, whose nickname was "Tepid Torpedo". When Karen Muir revisited the city in 2009 she donated her Springbok blazer to the Diamantveld High School.
At the time of her death, Sol Plaatje Municipality spokesman Sello Matsie expressed condolences to her family and friends, adding: Karen Muir “remains, even in death, an icon, and one of the city’s most honoured residents. It is especially important that we continue honouring her through the sport that she loved. We should use her passing to promote swimming, especially among girls…The name Karen Muir in Kimberley will live on.”
(Text courtesy of McGregor Museum in Kimberley)
ANC launches mass boycott of Bantu Education - 1955
African National Congress (ANC) launches mass boycott of Bantu Education. Bantu education referred to the administration of education for blacks under the Apartheid system of racial discrimination. High standards of education were reserved for Whites with poor provisions made for black people. Bantu education came into effect in 1955 after the government had passed the Bantu Education Act. The boycott did not succeed because the government warned that those who did not return to school before the deadline of 25 April would be expelled. This divided the ANC between those people who wanted to continue with the boycott and those who thought it was better for learners to return to school.
African National Congress (ANC) launches mass boycott of Bantu Education. Bantu education referred to the administration of education for blacks under the Apartheid system of racial discrimination. High standards of education were reserved for Whites with poor provisions made for black people. Bantu education came into effect in 1955 after the government had passed the Bantu Education Act. The boycott did not succeed because the government warned that those who did not return to school before the deadline of 25 April would be expelled. This divided the ANC between those people who wanted to continue with the boycott and those who thought it was better for learners to return to school.