Karen Lee

Who is Karen Lee?

Karen Tracey Lee is an English swimmer, who specialized in backstroke events. She finished sixth in the 200 m backstroke at the 2002 European Short Course Swimming Championships in Riesa, Germany. She is also a member of Team GB since 1998, and a varsity swimmer for the Loughborough University team, under head coach Ben Titley.

Lee qualified for the women's 200 m backstroke, as a member of Team GB, at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. She finished second behind Katy Sexton at the British Olympic Trials by 0.38 of a second, in a FINA A-standard of 2:11.86. She challenged seven other swimmers in heat four, including Germany's Antje Buschschulte and Russia's Stanislava Komarova, both of whom were top medal favorites. She faded to seventh place by a 5.39-second margin behind winner Komarova in 2:16.10. Lee missed the semifinals by nearly one second, as she placed twentieth overall in the preliminaries.