Iris Critchell
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.
Category Archives: Sports > Swimming
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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.
Eleanor G Holm
Distinguished American swimmer who achieved significant success in the 1930s.
Gertrude Ederle
Olympic champion, world record holder and the first woman to swim across the English Channel.
Mercedes Gleitze
On 6 April 1928, this pioneering female swimmer became the first person to swim the 8 mile Straits of Gibraltar.