The Swimming Collection of Plymouth’s Olympic Medallist ‘Helen Yate’ (1921-2020)
An inspiring and fascinating collection of Swimming memorabilia spanning the industrious career of -Plymouth born- Helen Yate has been consigned to Plymouth Auction Rooms.
Helen was regarded as the best all-round swimmer in the country of her day. She began her swimming career with the Port of Plymouth club, won the A.S.A. Ladies backstroke Championship in 1938 before the outbreak of War at the age of 17. She continued to flourish and with a place at the 1948 Summer Olympics.
The collection includes her original swimming suits and Olympic Jacket from the 1948 Olympics; along with approximately 83 medals; also clothing she wore at the 1950 Empire Games; and memorabilia from the 1964 Tokyo Olympic games.
Also amongst the collection is her debut medal, which made her the British national champion in the 100 metres backstroke in 1938, at just seventeen years old. Additionally, her 1948 London Olympic Participants medal, and three medals from the 1950 British Empire Games (a silver in the 3×110 yards medley relay, a bronze in the 110 yards backstroke, and a bronze 4×110 yards freestyle relay).
Her Plymouth family describe her as having been very humble in her accomplishments, never being one to ‘volunteer’ any information. They have shared further information about Helen which is available.
Her altruistic nature and passion is clear to see, demonstrated in her commitment to the community after retirement- from being a chaperone at the 1960 and also 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, to officially reopening Plymouth’s Mount Wise Pool, in 2000.
The collection will be up for auction on Tuesday 18th June. To arrange viewing please call 01752 254740 or message info@plymouthauctions.co.uk.
.
An article written by Chris Robinson was featured in the Plymouth Herald on Tuesday August 30th 2022. Further information can be found online.
There is much written online about Helen Yates achievements including a testimony written by swimming historian Ian Gordon in 2020 writing for Swim England, see an abridged version below or visit https://www.swimming.org/swimengland/helen-yate-tribute/
She had been the Western Counties title holder since 1936 for 150/100y backstroke and represented Britain at the 1938 European Championships in London, where she finished sixth in the final.
She also was a useful freestyler winning the National 220y championship in 1939.
Her father, a keen swimmer and a railway guard with the Great Western Railway, taught her to swim in the sea.
Helen was the last of her sisters and the slowest to learn and a Mr Linnus helped with her early coaching in the old open-air pool off the Hoe.
She was initially beaten by her non-identical twin sister, who also reached county standard but hadn’t the same competitive spirit.
By the age of 12 Lt. Commander Ward took over her training and, during the winter months, she used the old naval baths at H.M.S. Drake and developed her freestyle skills.
….After her trial he told her father she would be a national champion either that year or the year after and he was proved right with Helen taking the national title in the 150yard Backstroke at the Great Yarmouth nationals of 1938.
Selected for her first major competition that year – the European championships at Wembley – she made the final, finishing sixth in the 100m Backstroke and took the national 220y Freestyle title in 1939.
By this time she was living in London and training with the Mermaids under Bill Howcroft at Finchley Road, Chelsea, and Nine Elms Baths throughout the capital and working for the Great Western Railway.
During the Second World War, Helen served with the W.R.N.S.
She had placed second in 1946 to Monique Berlioz, of France, later to become a director of the IOC, and in 1948 to Ngairi Lane, of New Zealand, and two years later made the Olympic team by virtue of a second place at the National Championship.
At the London Olympics, her fourth place in the semi-final of the 100m Backstroke in 1.18.6 was the best of the three British entrants but not enough to make the final.
At the Commonwealth Games of 1950, in New Zealand, she returned with three medals – individual bronze in the 110y Backstroke, plus silver in England’s medley relay and another bronze with the freestyle relay team – despite a six week boat journey to get there.
Her British record for 100y Backstroke was established on 6 May 1951, when she was 30 years old and it was 45 years until another thirty-year-old British female swimmer – Caroline Foot – broke a British record. Helen’s first record had come some thirteen years before in 1938.
Several times she acted as chaperone to English and British teams, including the 1960 and 1964 Olympic Games, and also on the first trip by a British team to China in 1957.
Helen, who never married, worked for British Rail until 1981 and lived with her twin sister in retirement in Hooe, Plymouth.
In 2012, she accompanied her friend Elizabeth Church, another of the 17 surviving members of the 1948 team, to watch the London Olympic Games.
Helen passed away only a few months short of her 100th birthday having lived an independent existence in her own house until only four days before her death.