The Australian Women's Register

Summary

The second youngest of seven children, Mabel Springfield was raised in a sporty family, and began competitive swimming at an early age. At fourteen she was participating in the Queensland Ladies’ Amateur Swimming Association’s first women’s State championship. She won the championship several years in a row. She qualified to compete in the Olympic Games in both 1920 and 1924, but could not afford to join the team until 1928, when she was selected as a chaperon for female competitors at the Games in Amsterdam. It was here that she decided to begin a career in coaching, rather than competing. She coached swimmers at the Booroodabin Baths in Brisbane, taught swimming at local schools, and trained several State representatives as well as Olympian Nancy Lyons.

Springfield died from injuries received in a car accident while returning from a holiday in 1966.