Karen Phillips

This article is about the swimmer. For the soap opera character, see Karen Phillips (Coronation Street).

Karen Anne Phillips (born 4 May 1966), known after marriage as Karen Anne Higgison, was an Australian butterfly and individual medley swimmer of the 1980s, who won the silver medal in the 200-metre butterfly at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Karen Phillips

Personal information
Full name	Karen Anne Phillips
National team	Australia
Born	(1966-05-04) 4 May 1966 Nowra, New South Wales
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	58 kg (128 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Butterfly
Medal record Women's swimming Representing Australia Olympic Games 1984 Los Angeles 200 m butterfly Commonwealth Games 1986 Edinburgh 200 m butterfly 1986 Edinburgh 4 x 100 medley

Raised in Nowra, New South Wales, Phillips was selected to represent Australia in the 200-metre butterfly and 400-metre individual medley, but was not expected to do well, barely scraping into the final of the 200-metre butterfly, and narrowly missing the final of the 400-metre individual medley. Although she was left far behind by the United States' Mary T. Meagher, she swam a personal best of 2 minutes 10.56 seconds to claim the silver medal, although Meagher was 7 metres ahead.

Two years later at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland, Phillips enjoyed more success, winning the silver medal in the 200-metre butterfly and bronze medal in the 4 x 100 metre medley relay.

She was the inaugural winner of the Australian Institute of Sport Athlete of the Year in 1983–84.

See also

• List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)

Bibliography

• Andrews, Malcolm (2000). Australia at the Olympic Games. Sydney, New South Wales: ABC Books. p. 351. ISBN 0-7333-0884-8.

External links

• Profile