Karen Anne Phillips (born 4 May 1966), 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.
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—John Phillips (1676–1709)