Wales’s 22nd Purple Plaque remembers Cardiff swimmer Irene Steer who practiced in Roath Park Lake.
At 14, she won the 40 yards (37m) handicap race at the YMCA swimming gala in Cardiff. She then went on to win the amateur Welsh Ladies’ Championship a month later, swimming 100 yards (91m) in 93 seconds, seven seconds faster than the previous record. She’d recently changed her stroke from breaststroke to overarm (or the ‘Australian crawl’ as the then-new stroke was known).
Irene was the first woman from Wales to win an Olympic gold medal – at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. It would be another 96 years before another Welsh woman, cyclist Nicole Cooke, emulated this success in Beijing in 2008. It is a very exclusive club as there are to date only seven Welsh women who have won an Olympic gold.
The 1912 Stockholm Olympics were the first to feature women’s swimming events and of the 2,500 athletes, only 50 were women and Irene Steer was one of this cohort (2 per cent). She swam the ‘anchor’ leg in the 4×100 metres freestyle relay final on 15 July,1912 for team GB. They won gold in a world record time of 5mins 52.8sec. Prior to her Olympic glory between 1907 and 1913 Irene held the Welsh Championship unbeaten every year and is described in reports of the races as a ‘beautiful’ ‘neat’ and ‘most graceful swimmer’.
Revealing Irene Steer’s story is the outcome of a major project by Women’s Archive Wales called Women and Sport: Wales, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. She was also the mainstay of the Cardiff women’s water polo team as their main scorer before the First World War. Today she is an inspiration to other young girls and women who aspire to win Olympic medals and World Championships.
Mae 22ain Plac Porffor Cymru’n dathlu campau’r nofwraig o Gaerdydd, Irene Steer a aferai ymarfer yn Llyn Parc y Rhâth.
Yn 14 oed, enillodd y ras handicap 40 llath (37m) yng ngala nofio’r YMCA yng Nghaerdydd. Yna, fis yn ddiweddarach, aeth ymlaen i ennill Pencampwriaeth Merched Amatur Cymru, gan nofio 100 llath (91m) mewn 93 eiliad, saith eiliad yn gynt na’r record flaenorol. Ychydig cyn hynny roedd hi wedi newid ei dull nofio, o’r dull broga i’r dull dros y fraich (neu’r ‘Australian crawl’ fel y gelwid y dull hwnnw oedd yn newydd ar y pryd).
Irene oedd y fenyw gyntaf o Gymru i ennill medal aur Olympaidd, sef yng Ngemau Olympaidd 1912 yn Stockholm. Byddai 96 mlynedd yn mynd heibio cyn i Gymraes arall, y seiclwraig Nicole Cooke, efelychu’r llwyddiant hwn, a hynny yng ngemau Beijing yn 2008. Hyd yn hyn, dim ond saith menyw o Gymru sydd wedi ennill medal aur Olympaidd, felly mae Irene’n perthyn i glwb dethol dros ben.
Gemau Olympaidd Stockholm 1912 oedd y cyntaf i gynnwys cystadlaethau nofio i fenywod, ac o’r 2,500 o athletwyr yno, 50 yn unig oedd yn ferched (2 y cant); roedd Irene Steer yn un o’r garfan hon. Nofiodd hi adran yr ‘angor’ yn y ras gyfnewid derfynol 4×100 metr dull rhydd ar 15fed Gorffennaf, 1912 yn nhîm Prydain Fawr. Enillon nhw’r aur mewn amser o 5 munud 52.8 eiliad – record byd. Cyn ei llwyddiant yn y Gemau Olympaidd, bu Irene’n bencampwraig ddiguro ym Mhencampwriaeth Cymru bob blwyddyn rhwng 1907 a 1913, ac fe’i disgrifir mewn adroddiadau am y rasys hyn fel nofwraig ‘brydferth’, ‘ddestlus’ a ‘hynod osgeiddig’. Hi hefyd oedd prif sgoriwr tîm polo dŵr menywod Caerdydd cyn y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf.
Mae datgelu stori Irene Steer yn ganlyniad prosiect o bwys gan Archif Menywod Cymru, sef Menywod a Chwaraeon: Cymru, a ariannwyd gan Gronfa Dreftadaeth y Loteri Genedlaethol. Heddiw mae Irene yn ysbrydoliaeth i ferched ifanc a menywod eraill sydd ag uchelgais i ennill medalau Olympaidd a Phencampwriaethau Byd.