Judith Joy DAVIES

Judy-Joy Davies was known for her swimming career, but also for her pioneering career as a female sports journalist. Davies swam several strokes but concentrated on backstroke, winning the Australian national title in that stroke from 1946-52. In all, she was a 17-time Australian Champion. In addition to her 1948 Olympic bronze in the backstroke, she won three gold medals at the 1950 British Empire Games in the 110 yard backstroke and the freestyle and medley relays. At the 1953 Victorian Championships, Davies set a world record for the mile freestyle.

In the early 1950s Davies became the first woman sportswriter in Australia, working for the The Argus, for whom she covered the 1954 British Empire Games and the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne. She later moved to Sun News Pictorial and had a 34-year career in sportswriting. Although she started out focusing on swimming, she later branched out to athletics and other sports. In 1982 she was given the National Press Club Award for Sports Journalism. In 2011 Davies was inducted into The Sport Australia Hall of Fame.