Queens Birthday honour for a WA swimming legend

The Royal Life Saving Society WA would like to congratulate Lyn McKenzie, a long-time member of the society, who was recently awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) during the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Lyn is a stalwart of the West Australian swimming community, and remains WA’s only individual female Olympic Gold medallist, having claimed Gold in the 100m butterfly during the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games. She also claimed Silver in the 4x100m Medley at the same event.

Lyn was the Head Coach of the West Coast Swim Club from 1979 – 1998, and a founding member of the UWA West Coast Swim Club when the club joined forces with UWA in the 1990s. She was also the Australian Coach of the New Zealand Touring Team in 1997.

Throughout the same period she founded and directed the Lyn McClements Swim Academy between 1975 – 1995, encouraging and inspiring young swimmers, many of whom subsequently represented Australia.

She has been a long-time advocate and supporter of Swimming Western Australia, with the Lyn McClements Swimmer of the Year award handed out to up and coming swimmers since 2012.

Lyn worked for Royal Life Saving WA from 1997 through to 2015, and during this time contributed her expertise to the development of world-leading swimming and water safety education programs, while also raising awareness of the importance of water safety and personal survival skills for all children, championing the notion that no child should miss out with a focus on at-risk and regional communities.

We wish Lyn all the best as she continues to be a strong advocate for swimming and water safety education across the West Australian community.