Helen Orr Gordon (now known as Elenor Gordon) was born on May 10, 1934 in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire. Her father was the manager of the Hamilton Baths and a professional lifeguard. She began swimming competitively at a young age and was a member of the Hamilton Baths swim team coached by David Crabb. From 1947 to 1957, she was the Scottish 200m breaststroke champion.

In 1950, Gordon competed in her first Empire Games (now called the Commonwealth Games) in Auckland, New Zealand at the age of 16. She won a gold medal in the 220 yard breaststroke and shared a bronze medal with her 3 x 110 yard team mates. That year she was also awarded the Nancy Riach Memorial Medal for services to swimming; Riach had been the top Scottish swimmer at one time and had trained with the same swim team as Gordon did, she died of polio at age 20.

Gordon won a bronze medal at the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games in the 200m breaststroke. There was controversy in that bronze finish since she was defeated by two women doing the butterfly stroke which at the time was considered a variant of the breaststroke. This was changed after the 1952 Olympic Games and in 1956 became a completely separate Olympic swimming competition.

Helen Orr Gordon was the only British swimmer to win a swimming medal at the Olympic Games in 1952 and was the youngest ever Scottish Olympic champion. She went on to win two more gold medals in the 1954 Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, Canada; for the 220 yard breaststroke and for the 3 x 110 yard relay. While she did compete in the Melbourne Olympic Games in 1956, Gordon failed to win a medal.

Helen Orr Gordon is not as well-known as other Scottish Olympic athletes, which is too bad. She has been recognized for her accomplishments quite recently though; in 2003, she was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame. Helen Orr Gordon was definitely a pioneer in Scottish Olympic Games history, her accomplishments in both the Commonwealth Games and the Olympic Games at such a young age shows that she should be much better known and celebrated by all swimming and Scottish sports enthusiasts.