Sports > Swimming Archives

Mary Kate Callahan

She helped spearhead a lawsuit against the Illinois High School Association to allow disabled swimmers to take part in the state meet along with their able-bodied classmates.

Sara Mardini

Syrian swimmer and human rights activist

Iris Cummings Critchell served as a Women Airforce Service Pilot during World War II. The National Flight Instructors inducted her into the Hall of Fame in 2000 for her exemplary career as a flight instructor.

Wauba Debar

Indigenous swimmer from Tasmania who saved her captors from stormy seas

Anne Brunell

Australian gold medal winning swimmer, and Vice President of the Amputees Association.

Fanny Durack

In 1912, Fanny Durack became the first Australian woman to win an Olympic gold medal.

Helen Johns

Helen Johns won a gold medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics at just 17.

Rose Pitonof

At 15, she won the Boston Light Swim, setting a new record. The seven men she was competing with all dropped out before the finish line. She later appeared in a vaudeville act during which she gave swimming and diving lessons in a portable tank.

Helene Madison

Between 1930 and 1932, Seattle swimmer Helene Madison owned 23 world records for swimming and won every freestyle event at the U.S. Women’s Nationals three years in a row. Madison won three consecutive gold medals in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.