h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Heather Pamela McKay (nee Blundell) MBE AM is possibly the most peerless sportsperson of all.

Consider, she won the British open, squash's supreme event, consecutively from 1962 to 1977, a staggering sixteen years unbeaten. She dominated the physically gruelling women's squash circuit, losing only two matches in her entire career, one which spanned almost two decades. She was also successful at racquetball in the USA and Canada after her retirement from squash, winning USA and Canadian national titles.

She won her first Australian squash title (and the ensuing thirteen after this) just a year after her first game!

Born in Queanbeyan, Australia (right beside the national capital, Canberra - Queanbeyen also boasts the current F1 driver Mark Webber and a James Bond, George Lazenby, among other luminaries...), one of thirteen sports-minded children, she played tennis and hockey before playing squash 'to improve her fitness'. She won amateur titles for a thirteen years from 1960, dominating in Australia and across the globe.

She was awarded an MBE and an AM for her services to the sport and returned to squash to impart her undoubted prowess as a coach at Australia's Institute of Sport after her return from the US.

And she is a down to earth, unassuming wonder and an Australian natioanl treasure. Two decades plus of domination of such a physical sport as squash surely places her among the very few at the pinnacle of all sportspersons and she gets my vote...

(of course, Sir Donald Bradman is another entry I am sure someone else will post...!)

cheers,

astro : )