Joyce Dixon

Joyce Dixon
Personal information
NationalityBritish (Welsh)
BornQ1. 1945[1]
Rhyl, Wales
Sport
SportSwimming
Event
Backstroke
ClubWellington ASC
Shiverers SC, Cardiff

Joyce Dixon (born 1945) is a former Welsh swimmer who specialised in the backstroke and competed at the Commonwealth Games.

Biography

Dixon was born in Rhyl, North Wales but moved with her family as a young child to Wellington, Shropshire, where she attended Wrekin Road School and Wellington High School and lived at 82 Roseway.[2][3]

In September 1957, at the age of 12, Dixon won three swimming events for Wellington Amateur Swimming Club at the Shropshire County Championships.[4] Her father was the club secretary of Wellington ASC and she was a competent swimmer in the freestyle and breaststroke in addition to her primary backstroke event.[5]

In 1958, swimming for Shiverers SC of Cardiff, she won the Welsh backstroke championship, defeating Diana Davies in the final.[6]

She represented the Welsh team[7] at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Wales, where she competed in the 110 backstroke event and helped Wales secure a sixth place finish in the final of the women's 110 yards medley relay, with Geraldine Francis, Jocelyn Hooper, Diana Davies and Gillian Howells.[8]

She retained her Welsh backstroke title in 1959, 1960 and 1961, the latter in a record time of 68.2 sec but missed out on selection for the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games.[9]

References

  1. ^ "Dixon, Joyce". Free BMD. Retrieved 16 October 2025.
  2. ^ "In Welsh Swimming Championships". Wellington Journal. 21 June 1958. p. 12. Retrieved 16 October 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ^ "To swim for Wales at Empire Games". Wellington Journal. 5 July 1958. p. 5. Retrieved 16 October 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ^ "Amateur Swimming Club". Wellington Journal. 28 September 1957. p. 18. Retrieved 16 October 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ^ "Twelve-Years-Old Joyce Dixon". Wellington Journal. 2 November 1957. p. 12. Retrieved 16 October 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. ^ "Gillian's Birthday Eve Record Swim". Western Mail. 2 November 1957. p. 12. Retrieved 16 October 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ^ "Wales Cardiff 1958". Commonwealth Games Federation. Archived from the original on 15 November 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2025.
  8. ^ "The Welsh Swimming Team". Pontypridd Observer. 19 July 1958. p. 22. Retrieved 16 October 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ^ "Joyce retains Welsh titles". Wellington Journal. 23 July 1960. p. 15. Retrieved 16 October 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.