Watson, Pokey (1950—)
Watson, Pokey (1950—)
American Olympic swimmer . Name variations: Lillian Watson. Born Lillian Debra Watson in Mineola, Long Island, New York, on July 11, 1950; married Allen Richardson (an all-American swimmer), in 1971; children: three.
Born Lillian Watson in 1950 in Long Island, New York, Pokey Watson entered her first Olympic competition at age 14 in 1964. As a member of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay swim team (which included Sharon Souder, Donna de Varona , and Kathleen Ellis ), Watson won the gold medal in world-record time. She followed up this victory with consecutive U.S. national titles, first in the outdoor freestyle 100-meter event and then in the 200-meter event. During those years, Watson also played on the national women's water polo championship team at the Santa Clara Swim Club.
Watson built on third and fourth place finishes in the 100-meter and 200-meter events at the 1967 Pan American Games in preparation for the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico. Becoming bored with freestyle swimming, she switched to the backstroke on a whim the summer before the Olympics and pulled off a firstplace finish in the Olympic 200-meter backstroke the year it became open to women. She was the first woman to accomplish this feat, with a time of 2:24.8 seconds.
sources:
Read, Phyllis J., and Bernard L. Witlieb. The Book of Women's Firsts. NY: Random House, 1992.
Judith C. Reveal , freelance writer, Greensboro, Maryland