fullname club birth_place weight height birth_date article_title strokes name
donna-marie gurr pacific dolphins vancouver , british columbia 50 kg lb on 1.67 m ftin on 18 february 1955 donna gurr
 backstroke donna gurr
donna gurr

donna-marie gurr , cm -lrb- born february 18 , 1955 -rrb- is a former backstroke swimmer from canada , who competed for her native country at the 1972 summer olympics in munich , germany .
there she won the bronze medal in the 200-metre backstroke .
in 1976 , she was made a member of the order of canada , canada 's highest achievement award , in a ceremony at rideau hall in ottawa .
she was inducted into the bc sports hall of fame in 1987 , the bc swimming hall of fame in 2004 , and the canadian aquatic hall of fame .
she started swimming at the newly built arbutus club in vancouver in 1965 , and later joined the canadian dolphin swim club , where her idol elaine tanner swam and was coached by howard firby .
she qualified for her first senior nationals at age 12 , placing 12th in one event .
at the age of 13 she narrowly missed a berth on the 1968 olympic team by placing 3rd in the 200-metre backstroke , at the olympic trials , and missing the qualifying time by only 3 tenths of a second .
during the summer of 1969 , aged 14 , the canadian dolphins went on their first trip to europe , where they attended the british championships in blackpool .
she won 5 gold medals , swimming in both the junior and senior events .
next they attended the canadian nationals in montreal , where she won her first national titles in the 100m and 200-metre backstroke , and came away with 4 gold and one silver medal .
the team went on to the first canada games in halifax where she won 5 gold medals .
she was national champion in the 100 and 200-metre backstroke from 1969-1972 .
during her career , she had many health problems and injuries .
after the very successful summer of 1969 , she began to experience pain in her left knee .
x-rays showed a problem , osteochondritis dissecans of the left femoral condyle , in which a part of the bone , was becoming detached from the femur .
it was determined by her orthopedic surgeon dr. hector gillespie , and her gp , sports medicine expert dr. doug clement that surgery was needed to pin the loosened piece of bone in place .
in december 1969 she entered the hospital for the surgery .
much to her surprise , when wheeled into the operating room , she was told of a change of plans .
due to her young age , it was hoped that with crutches and a specialized cast , from hip to ankle , the knee would heal on its own .
the cast was made from heated and molded foam rubber , and secured by fiberglass dipped in acetone , and wrapped around the inner foam layer .
when it dried , it weighed almost nothing , and she could continue her training .
this was the prototype for the lightweight fiberglass casts used by many people today .
she began training , virtually only being able to use one leg while swimming and doing the turns at each end of the pool , and using the crutches at all times , with no weight bearing on that leg .
not missing months of training was very important at this time , as her first international games , the commonwealth games , were coming up in the summer of 1970 .
the cast was removed twice , once to qualify for the games trials , and then again for the commonwealth trials in edmonton .
she finished first at the trials , despite swimming with the use of only one leg and made the team in the 100 and 200-metre backstroke .
crutches were used at all times while walking .
the cast came off for good in may 1970 , and the knee was deemed healed .
it took quite a while to get the knee and leg working again properly after 6 months of the cast and crutches , but two months later she won 3 medals at the commonwealth games in edinburgh .
it was quite a remarkable accomplishment .
she won a silver medal in the 200-metre backstroke , and a bronze in the 100-metre backstroke and another bronze in the 4x100-metre medley relay in edinburgh at the commonwealth games of 1970 at age 15 .
she was awarded the bc junior athlete of the year in 1970 .
in 1971 , at 16 years old , she won 3 gold and one silver medal at the pan-american games in cali , colombia .
the gold medals were in the women 's 4x100m medley relay , and the 100 and 200m backstroke events .
the silver medal was in the 4x100m freestyle relay .
during the final of the 200m backstroke , at about the 75m mark , all the power in the area went out .
as it was an outdoor pool , at night , this caused the race to come to an abrupt halt .
who knows what the outcome would have been had the race continued , but it was decided by the coaches and swimmers to re-swim the final after the other races that night .
and donna-marie did win on the second try .
by the time of the 1972 olympic trials and games , donna-marie was having trouble with a spinal problem , aggravated by all the training , and tendonitis in both shoulders .
cortisone shots were given at some points so she could continue training and competing leading up to munich .
at 17 was the bronze medal in the 200-metre backstroke in munich , while at the olympic trials that year , she broke elaine tanner 's canadian record in the 100-metre backstroke , she had broken the 200-metre record earlier .
she barely made it into the final of the 200-metre backstroke , qualifying 8th and swimming the race in lane 8 , which is considered the worst lane and the battle for the bronze medal was very close among several of the swimmers .
she missed making the final of the 100-metre backstroke by 3/100ths of a second , a disappointing result .
but she was happy to win the bronze in the 200-metre , on the last night of the swimming competition .
at 18 , in 1973 , she competed in the first world aquatic championships in belgrade , and at 19 , in 1974 , she went to her second commonwealth games in christchurch , new zealand and won a silver and bronze medal .
these were in the 100 and 200-metre backstroke events .
she held numerous canadian records in age group swimming and the senior events , as an individual and as a member of many relay teams , for the canadian dolphins and while representing canada internationally .
although being an excellent individual medley swimmer -lrb- 200 metre -rrb- , after the cast came off her knee , she had trouble doing the dolphin kick properly , and afterwards could not swim butterfly or medley events .
after the christchurch commonwealth games , donna-marie took a long break from swimming , and did compete again during the summer of 1976 .
she competed at the santa clara international meet and in the 1976 olympic trials , but did not qualify for the team .
she then retired from the sport .
her coach for the majority of her career was deryk snelling , who many believe was the reason the canadian dolphin team were national team champions for so many years .
almost half of the munich olympic swim team were from the canadian dolphins , and the medals won by leslie cliff , bruce robertson , bill mahoney and donna-marie accounted for almost all the medals won in munich , including all sports .
during her career she traveled extensively , all over canada and the united states , competing at the santa clara international meet every summer .
she traveled to england numerous times , attending the coca cola international meet in london in the spring , for several years , and on other occasions as well .
she traveled to scotland , holland , germany twice , switzerland , norway , france , austria and the former yugoslavia .
she also visited new zealand twice , australia once , where she met dawn fraser , a swimming icon , at the new south wales championships in january 1972 .
she also went to hawaii , fiji , and cali , colombia in 1971 for the pan-am games .
she was chosen as one of the recipients of the queen elizabeth ll diamond jubilee medal , which will be awarded at a special presentation ceremony in april 2012 .
the medals will be presented by the lieutenant governor of british columbia .
on april 5 , 2013 at the world championship trials in victoria , british columbia , gurr was inducted into swimming canada 's `` circle of excellence '' .
the presentation was made before the start of the finals and she was accompanied by her coach deryk snelling and team mate leslie cliff , who are also circle of excellence members .
she presently lives and works in vancouver .
