Isabella "Belle" McAlpine Moore (23 October 1894 – 7 March 1975), later known by her married nameBelle Cameron, was a Scottish competitiveswimmer who represented Great Britain in the Olympics.[1]
At the1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, Moore won a gold medal as a member of the first-place British women's team in the4×100-metre freestyle relay, together with teammatesJennie Fletcher,Annie Speirs andIrene Steer.[2][3] The British women set a new world record in the event of 5:52.8, beating the German and Austrian women's relay teams by a wide margin.[4] Swedish KingGustav V presented Moore and her teammates with their gold medals and Olympic laurels.[5]
Moore was trained as a longer-distance swimmer, but only 100-metre swimming events were available for women at the 1912 Olympics; she was eliminated in the semi-finals of thewomen's 100-metre freestyle.[2] At 17 years and 226 days old, she remains the youngest British woman to win an Olympic gold medal; she was also the only Scottish woman to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics whenKathleen Dawson also won gold in the mixed 4 x 100 medley relay.[3]
Moore was born the eighth child of nine in her family.[5] She started training at an early age and, by 17, already worked as a swimming instructor.[3] In 1919, she married George Cameron, a naval architect; together, they moved toMaryland, United States, where Moore gave birth to a daughter, Doris, and son, George.[3] She spent the rest of her life in Maryland where she taught swimming to thousands of children.[5] She was posthumously inducted into theInternational Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Pioneer Swimmer" in 1989.[5]
