Katherine Read (born 30 June 1969), also known by her married name Katherine Osher, is an English former backstroke swimmer who competed at three

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

, in

Los Angeles 1984 The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

, Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992. She holds the record of 42 National titles

Career

Olympic Games

Read competed at her first Olympic Games in Los Angeles 1984 at the age of 15 and reached the B final of the 200 m backstroke, finishing 11th overall. Two years later at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland, she won a silver medal in the 200 m backstroke. At her second Olympic Games in Seoul 1988, Read reached the B finals of both the

100 m The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

and

200m The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

backstroke, overall she finished 16th and 12th respectively. At her final Olympics in Barcelona 1992, she was eliminated in the heats, finishing 24th overall in the

and 21st in the

backstroke events. She competed at the 1996 Olympic trials, but failed to make the team for Atlanta.

European Championships

During her career, Read also reached six individual finals at the European Championships, 8th at 200 m (1987), 7th at both 100 m & 200 m (1989), 6th at 200 m (1991) and 6th at both 100 & 200 m (1993). It was at the 1993 European Championships event in Sheffield that she finally won a European Championship medal, winning bronze in the medley relay along with teammates

Jaime King Jaime Barbara King (born April 23, 1979) is an American actress and model best known for her roles in TV series '' Hart of Dixie'' (2011–2015) and ''Black Summer'' (2019–2021), and films such as ''Pearl Harbor'' (2001), ''Slackers'' (200 ...

, Nicola Kennedy and

Karen Pickering Karen Denise Pickering, MBE (born 19 December 1971) is a former freestyle swimmer from Great Britain. Swimming career She made her international senior debut in 1986. She was first selected to represent her country at the European Junior Cham ...

Commonwealth Games

She represented

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and won a

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

in the 200 metres backstroke, at the

1986 Commonwealth Games The 1986 Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, between 24 July and 2 August 1986. This was the second Commonwealth Games to be held in Edinburgh. Thirty two of the eligible fifty nine countries (largely African, Asian and Caribbe ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Four years later she represented

in the 100 metres and 200 metres backstroke events, at the

1990 Commonwealth Games The 1990 Commonwealth Games () were held in Auckland, New Zealand from 24 January – 3 February 1990. It was the 14th Commonwealth Games, and part of New Zealand's 1990 sesquicentennial celebrations. Participants competed in ten sports: at ...

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. At the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria (as Kathy Osher), she won two medals, bronze in the 100 m backstroke, followed by a silver in the medley relay.

National Championships

Her record of 42 ASA National Championship titles includes 29 senior titles (26 backstroke titles (5 x 50 metres backstroke), (10 x 100 metres backstroke), (11 x 200 metres backstroke) and (3 medley titles (1 x 200 metres medley), (2 x 400 metres medley).

International competitions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Read, Kathy 1969 births Living people English female backstroke swimmers Olympic swimmers for Great Britain Swimmers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics British female backstroke swimmers Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Commonwealth Games silver medallists in swimming Swimmers at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Sportspeople from Great Yarmouth English female medley swimmers British female medley swimmers 20th-century English sportswomen