Background
Gwen Buck was born in Richmond, Surrey (now London), in 1929.
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Gwen Buck
Edit Profiletable tennis player athletics competitor
Career
Buck"s love of competitive sport was nurtured at Stoke Mandeville Hospital and she became a regular participant in the Stoke Mandeville Games. By the early 1960s she was representing Great Britain at the Commonwealth Games and the Paralympic Games. At the 1964 Games in Tokyo, Buck partnered with Susan Cunliffe-Lister, Countess of Swinton in the Women"s Doubles B Table Tennis event, winning the gold medal.
At the 1968 Games in Tel Aviv she spread out into a variety of other sports including lawn bowls, swimming, and three field athletics disciplines: discus, javelin, and shot put.
Achievements
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She won gold medals in table tennis, lawn bowls, and swimming, and entered several athletics events across four Paralympic Games. Alongside her own sporting accomplishments, Buck was always keen to encourage young people to participate. She won gold in both the women"s pairs and singles lawn bowls as well as the 25m backstroke swim. Her final gold medal came at the 1972 Games in Heidelberg for the women"s pairs lawn bowls, and went on to gain further medals in 1976 before retiring for competitive sport. Buck was awarded the British Empire Medal in the early 1970s and also received the Sportswoman of the Year award from the Sports Writers Guild.
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Born
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Died
February 13, 2005 (aged 76) -
Nationality
United Kingdom