Joan Harrison, the first South African swimmer to claim Olympic gold when she won the 100m backstroke at the Helsinki Games of 1952, has passed away at the age of 89.

Harrison was 16 when she claimed a victory so unexpected that the South African team manager Alex Bulley fainted with the excitement of it all. Harrison took the title in Finland in 1min 14.3, 0.2sec ahead of the Dutch challenger Geertje Wielema who had set an Olympic record of 1:13.8 in heats two days before, when Harrison clocked 1:14.7.

A little swim history: there was no getting to the World record of 1:10.9 set in a short-course pool by Cor Kint, of The Netherlands, in Rotterdam on September 22, 1939, 21 days after the Second World War had officially begun when the Nazis invaded Poland, and in response, Britain and France declared war on Germany the next day.

In the final, Wielema shot off down the opening length in 34.3, Dutch teammate Joke de Korte, on 1:15.8 in heats, and Harrison closest, both on 35.8. As Wielema tired from 30 metres out, Harrison held her pace. By 90m, she'd caught up with the Dutch leader, and the fight for gold was on. Wielema refused to yield. Harrison refused to yield. It would be a matter of who could get their fingertips to the wall first.

Harrison got the touch, Wielema the silver, and New Zealand's Jean Stewart was given the judges' nod for bronze with the same time as de Korte, who also matched her own heats time in 1:15.8. The days of electronic timing were a few Olympic cycles away and the naked eye and, sometimes, partisan spirit, was a part of many a close call.