Jeanette Holle, who competed at the 1950 Empire Games (now Commonwealth Games) for Australia and was one of the nation’s oldest living Dolphins, has died at the age of 93.
In Auckland at the 1950 Games, Holle finished fourth in the women’s 110-yard backstroke final in a time of 1:22.0.
She had secured her spot on the team earlier that year, as an 18-year-old, when she unofficially clocked a Queensland record for the event in training at Brisbane’s Valley Baths. Holle would also make the team alongside fellow Queenslander swimmers Nancy Lyons and Denise Spencer.
Holle was awarded a Half Blue by the University of Queensland in 1950 for swimming. The award was later upgraded to a Full Blue in 1951.
Both awards are given to elite student-athletes who represent the university with distinction. Swimmers who have also received the Full Blue include Thomas Neill, Elizabeth Dekkers, and Kieran Perkins.
Holle went on to teach neighborhood children to swim in her backyard pool in Clayfield, Brisbane.
