Background
A native of Motherwell Gibson received exposure to swimming at a young age: her father was employed at the town"s swimming pool and her two brothers played water polo.
A native of Motherwell Gibson received exposure to swimming at a young age: her father was employed at the town"s swimming pool and her two brothers played water polo.
In 2008 she was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame. With the Olympics a year away, she continued an 8-hour daily training regimen, despite the family"s low finances, which required her to work full-time as a clerk. At the start of the Olympics, four months past her seventeenth birthday, Gibson travelled to London without her family who could not afford the cost of the trip.
Reporting from the Olympics on 9 July 1948, a Guardian reporter wrote that "Mission Gibson, Britain"s hope, was at or near the rear and she did not begin to come up until 300 metres had been swum.
During the London 2012 Olympic Games, Brown was united with the original portrait of herself. The portrait was painted by artist Kristina Macaulay and was originally commissioned by North Lanarkshire City Council in 2006 to commemorate unique talent local to the area.
The image of the painting featured as part of one of the largest local open air galleries in the United Kingdom.