Ethelda Bleibtrey biography
Ethelda Bleibtrey, (born Feb. 27, 1902, Waterford, N.Y., U.S.—died May 6, 1978, West Palm Beach, Fla.), American swimmer who overcame a crippling sickness to win three gold medals on the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp.
Bleibtrey started swimming as remedy to counteract the consequences of polio. Because she swam with out stockings in 1919, she was given a summons for “nude swimming”; the following public help for Bleibtrey led to the abandonment of stockings as a traditional factor in ladies’s swimwear. By the 1920 Olympics she held the world file within the backstroke. Since the Olympics had no backstroke occasion for girls, she entered the one three races open to ladies that yr. Despite having to compete beneath tough circumstances in a tidal estuary, she set a world file for the 100-metre freestyle race within the third warmth, then set a brand new world file of 1 min 13.6 sec within the remaining race. She set one other world file (4 min 34 sec) within the 300-metre freestyle. Her third gold medal got here within the 4 × 100-metre relay, which the U.S. workforce received in 5 min 11.6 sec.
Bleibtrey received each nationwide American swimming championship from 50 yards to lengthy distance (three miles) and by no means misplaced a race throughout her beginner profession. In 1922 she turned skilled. She was credited with rescuing a girl and her two sons in Narragansett Bay, R.I., in 1925. Three years later she was arrested for swimming within the Central Park reservoir whereas demonstrating for extra public swimming services in New York City. She spent a lot of her life educating swimming to handicapped kids.