Jean Marguerite Caplin (21 February 1930 – 1 March 2014) was a British

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

. She competed in the

women's 200 metre breaststroke A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...

at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

. Caplin was born to a wealthy German family, but was fostered in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

in the 1930s. She began swimming at the age of seven. When she was fifteen, she won the 1946 ASA 200 yards breaststroke title and went on to compete in the 1948 Summer Olympics. She finished third in the ASA 200 in 1949, and also won the Southern Counties 100 in 1949 and 1950. She began suffering from mental health issues in 1951. She hitchhiked from France to

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

to spectate the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

. After returning from Helsinki, Caplin began committing petty theft. In 1952, she was sentenced to two consecutive six-month prison sentences on thirteen counts of theft, but her sentence was commuted on appeal. She served two years on probation and one year in a psychiatric hospital. She began involved in swimming again in the 1980s and competed in the Sussex Masters Championships. She died from cancer in 2014 in

Richmond, London Richmond is a town in south-west London,The London Government Act 1963 (c.33) (as amended) categorises the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames as an Outer London borough. Although it is on both sides of the River Thames, the Boundary Commis ...

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Caplin, Jean 1930 births 2014 deaths English female breaststroke swimmers Olympic swimmers for Great Britain Swimmers at the 1948 Summer Olympics British female breaststroke swimmers 20th-century British sportswomen People from Kingston upon Thames Swimmers from London Sportspeople from the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames 20th-century English sportswomen British sportspeople convicted of crimes Sportspeople convicted of crimes British people convicted of theft English people of German descent Deaths from cancer in England