Karen Phillips

Who is Karen Phillips?

Karen Anne Phillips, known after marriage as Karen Anne Higgison, was an Australian butterfly and individual medley swimmer of the 1980s, who won the silver medal in the 200 m butterfly at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Raised in Nowra, New South Wales, Phillips was selected to represent Australia in the 200 m butterfly and 400 m individual medley, but was not expected to do well, barely scraping into the final of the 200 m butterfly, and narrowly missing the final of the 400 m individual medley. Although she was left far behind by the United States' Mary T. Meagher, she swum a personal best of 2mins 10.56s to claim the silver medal, although Meagher was 7 metres ahead.

Two years later at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Phillips enjoyed more success, winning silver in the 200 m butterfly.

She was the inaugural winner of the Australian Institute of Sport Athlete of the Year in 1983/84.