Swimmer Lucy Morton overcame a car crash and boxer Harry Mallin’s golden double was unmatched for 92 years
14 July 1924. Paris. Lucy Morton sat up on the pavement with a start. All around her was a cacophony of shouting. In French. The taxi she’d been travelling in seconds earlier was halfway up the kerb and another taxi appeared to be parked in the side of it. As her senses began to return, she reasoned that the impact of the crash must have thrown her clear of the open-air cab and knocked her out on the street. She felt blood trickling down her face and noticed five of her teeth lying beside her.
Her teammates from the British Olympic swimming team were white-faced and sobbing, and with the 200m breaststroke competition starting two days later, she realised her big Olympic adventure had taken a dreadful turn for the worst.