INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING HALL OF FAME
DID YOU
KNOW ABOUT ETHELDA BLEIBTREY? BY BRUCE WIGO PHOTOS BY INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING HALL OF FAME
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thelda Bleibtrey was the USA’s first female Olympic swimming champion and the only woman to win gold in every event at an Olympic Games. Of course, there were only three events offered for women 101 years ago at the 1920 Antwerp Games: the 100 and 300 meter freestyle plus the 4x100 freestyle relay. But if backstroke and breaststroke were swum, she might have won them, too—she was an “unofficial” world record holder in both strokes! Born in Waterford, N.Y., in 1902, Ethelda grew up at a time when athletics for women was just drawing interest. When she was in grammar school, her family moved to New York City, where she first learned to swim at the age of 15. Ethelda credited her interest in competitive swimming to a visit at her school’s swimming class from Elaine Golding, the women’s professional long-distance champion at the time. Recognizing her natural gifts, Elaine inspired Ethelda to join the Women’s Swimming Association of New York. Within two years of instruction under Louis deBreda Handley, she was declared the best woman swimmer in the world after defeating Australian great, Fanny Durack, in a match in San Francisco. Ethelda’s training, she said, consisted of eating decent food and practicing good form, saying: “Our coach, Mr. Handley, believes that if a swimmer’s form and style are as near-perfect as can be made, and having plenty of power and stamina, she will finish ahead of a swimmer with poorer form. That’s why when we practice, we never race against time. There is no practical use in sacrificing form for speed.” In addition to her Olympic titles, Ethelda had other firsts for which she gained a great deal of celebrity and notoriety. In 1919, in an era when women wore their hair long, she was the first female athlete of note, following the lead of actress Irene Castle, to cut her blonde hair short and wear a “bob.” Later that same year, she was arrested at Manhattan Beach on Long Island, N.Y., for removing her stockings before entering the surf. That was considered “public nudity” at the time. The resulting publicity and public opinion swung in her favor, not only emancipating Ethelda from jail, but for all women who wore bathing suits in public spaces. In 1922, after turning professional, Ethelda was arrested again after she agreed to a publicity stunt—backed by The New York Daily News—intended to force the city to build a swimming pool in Central Park. After diving into the Central Park Reservoir, she was arrested and paddy-wagoned down to the “Tombs” for a night in prison. But Mayor Jimmy Walker intervened after a public outcry and agreed to build Ethelda and the people of New York a pool in the park. Ethelda was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1967, and earlier this year, her hometown of Waterford, N.Y., honored her memory by renaming its aquatic center in her honor. v
Bruce Wigo, historian and consultant at the International Swimming Hall of Fame, served as president/CEO of ISHOF from 2005-17.
>> Ethelda Bleibtrey: first notable female athlete to wear a bob hairstyle
>> Bleibtrey, 18, at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp
>> Ethelda at her International Swimming Hall of Fame induction in 1967 with Australian great, Dawn Fraser AUGUST 2021
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