| Birth Date: | 30 June 1969 |
| Birth Place: | Great Yarmouth, England |
| Weight: | 60kg (130lb) |
| Sport: | Swimming |
| Club: | Barnet Copthall, Norwich Penguins |
| Show-Medals: | yes |
Katherine Read (born 30 June 1969), also known by her married name Katherine Osher, is an English former backstroke swimmer who competed at three Olympic Games, in Los Angeles 1984, Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992. She holds the record of 42 National titles[1]
Read competed at her first Olympic Games in Los Angeles 1984 at the age of 15 and reached the B final of the 200 m backstroke, finishing 11th overall. Two years later at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland, she won a silver medal in the 200 m backstroke. At her second Olympic Games in Seoul 1988, Read reached the B finals of both the 100 m and 200m backstroke, overall she finished 16th and 12th respectively. At her final Olympics in Barcelona 1992, she was eliminated in the heats, finishing 24th overall in the 100 m and 21st in the 200m backstroke events. She competed at the 1996 Olympic trials, but failed to make the team for Atlanta.
During her career, Read also reached six individual finals at the European Championships, 8th at 200 m (1987), 7th at both 100 m & 200 m (1989), 6th at 200 m (1991) and 6th at both 100 & 200 m (1993). It was at the 1993 European Championships event in Sheffield that she finally won a European Championship medal, winning bronze in the medley relay along with teammates Jaime King, Nicola Kennedy and Karen Pickering.
She represented England and won a silver medal in the 200 metres backstroke, at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland.[2] Four years later she represented England in the 100 metres and 200 metres backstroke events, at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand.[3] [4] At the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria (as Kathy Osher), she won two medals, bronze in the 100 m backstroke, followed by a silver in the medley relay.[5]
Her record of 42 ASA National Championship titles includes 29 senior titles (26 backstroke titles (5 x 50 metres backstroke), (10 x 100 metres backstroke), (11 x 200 metres backstroke) and (3 medley titles (1 x 200 metres medley), (2 x 400 metres medley).[6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]
| 1984 | Olympic Games | Los Angeles, United States | 11th | 200 m backstroke | 2:18.33 |
| 1986 | Commonwealth Games | Edinburgh, Scotland | 5th | 100 m backstroke | 1:04.88 |
| bgcolor=silver | 2nd | 200 m backstroke | 2:16.92 | ||
| 8th | 400 m Ind. medley | 4:58.91 | |||
| 1986 | World Championships | Madrid, Spain | 13th | 100 m backstroke | 1:04.52 |
| 13th | 200 m backstroke | 2:18.13 | |||
| 10th | 4 × 100 m medley | 4:19.37 | |||
| 1987 | European Championships | Strasbourg, France | 8th | 200 m backstroke | 2:16.46 |
| 1988 | Olympic Games | Seoul, South Korea | 16th | 100 m backstroke | 1:04.27 |
| 12th | 200 m backstroke | 2:18.20 | |||
| 9th | 4 × 100 m medley | 4:16.18 | |||
| 1989 | European Championships | Bonn, Germany | 7th | 100 m backstroke | 1:04.60 |
| 7th | 200 m backstroke | 2:16.85 | |||
| 5th | 4 × 100 m medley | 4:13.89 | |||
| 1990 | Commonwealth Games | Auckland, New Zealand | 6th | 100 m backstroke | 1:04.59 |
| 5th | 200 m backstroke | 2:15.75 | |||
| 1991 | European Championships | Athens, Greece | 6th | 200 m backstroke | 2:15.15 |
| 1992 | Olympic Games | Barcelona, Spain | 24th | 100 m backstroke | 1:04.97 |
| 21st | 200 m backstroke | 2:17.15 | |||
| 1993 | European Championships | Sheffield, England | 6th | 100 m backstroke | 1:03.54 |
| 6th | 200 m backstroke | 2:14.55 | |||
| 3rd | 4 × 100 m medley | 4:12.18 | |||
| 1994 | Commonwealth Games | Victoria, Canada | 3rd | 100 m backstroke | 1:03.27 |
| 6th | 200 m backstroke | 2:16.25 | |||
| bgcolor=silver | 2nd | 4 × 100 m medley | 4:12.83 |