Donna de Varona biography
Donna de Varona, (born April 26, 1947, San Diego, California, U.S.), American athlete and sportscaster who, after a record-breaking novice profession as a swimmer, established herself as an advocate for girls’s and women’ sports activities alternatives.
De Varona grew to become a family phrase amongst Olympic Games fanatics in 1960 when, at age 13, she grew to become the youngest member of the U.S. swimming staff on the Rome Olympics. Four years later, on the Tokyo Olympics, she gained two gold medals—within the 400-metre particular person medley and within the 4 × 100-metre freestyle relay—and by age 17 she had damaged 18 world data in swimming.
After her Olympic triumph she retired from competitors. Soon thereafter she was employed as a tv commentator; she was the primary girl to serve that perform on community tv. De Varona additionally grew to become a vocal proponent of the ideas in the end embodied in Title IX laws guaranteeing that nobody shall due to intercourse be denied participation in any instructional program (together with sports activities packages at instructional establishments) receiving direct federal help. As a guide to the Senate from 1976 to 1978, she additionally grew to become concerned with the legislative growth of the U.S. Amateur Sports Act. Together with tennis nice Billie Jean King and others, de Varona organized the Women’s Sports Foundation. She served as that group’s first elected president (1976–84). De Varona graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles with a B.A. in political science in 1986.
After being fired by ABC Sports, the 52-year-old de Varona filed a lawsuit in 2000, alleging age and intercourse discrimination. However, she dropped the swimsuit after the community rehired her in 2002. In addition to her tv work, she continued to be concerned in numerous efforts to advertise girls in sports activities. The recipient of quite a few honours, de Varona was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2003. Her sister, Joanna Kerns, was a famous actress.