Today in Kimberley's History
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Karen Muir (12yr) sets new world record - 1965
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)
Allan Boesak is arrested - 1985
Dr. Allan Boesak was arrested and appeared in court on charges of trying to enter a Black township without permit, but charges were subsequently dropped. In the same month, he also planned a march to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town, to demand the release of Nelson Mandela. Dr. Boesak was on that occasion detained by police in terms of section 29 of the Internal Security Act, and was taken to Pretoria for interrogation. In March 1985 Dr. Boesak was arrested along with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Dr Christiaan Beyers Naude, with whom he had formed a triumvirate of South African clerics opposed to the Apartheid regime.
Dr. Allan Boesak was arrested and appeared in court on charges of trying to enter a Black township without permit, but charges were subsequently dropped. In the same month, he also planned a march to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town, to demand the release of Nelson Mandela. Dr. Boesak was on that occasion detained by police in terms of section 29 of the Internal Security Act, and was taken to Pretoria for interrogation. In March 1985 Dr. Boesak was arrested along with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Dr Christiaan Beyers Naude, with whom he had formed a triumvirate of South African clerics opposed to the Apartheid regime.