Helen Wainwright
 Wainwright in 1922 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Helen E. Wainwright |
| National team | United States |
| Born | March 15, 1906 New York City, New York, United States |
| Died | October 11, 1965 (aged 59) Hampton Bays, New York |
| Height | 5 ft 1 in (1.55 m) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Swimming |
| Strokes | Freestyle, springboard diving |
| Club | Women's Swimming Association |
show
Medal record | |
Helen E. Wainwright (March 15, 1906 – October 11, 1965), also known by her married name Helen Stelling, was a competition diver and swimmer who represented the United States at the 1920 Summer Olympics and 1924 Summer Olympics. She remains the only woman to ever win Olympic silver medals in both swimming and diving.[1]
Biography[]
Helen Wainwright was the daughter of John Wainwright, a bricklayer from Lancaster, England, who emigrated to New York in 1888.[2]
She was a member of the Women's Swimming Association (WSA) of New York.[3] Swimming coach Louis de B. Handley called Wainwright the world's fastest swimmer. She won 19 gold medals in U.S. national championships, 17 of them for swimming and the other two for diving events.[2][4]
At the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, aged just 14 years old, Wainwright won the silver medal in the women's 3-meter springboard competition. Four years later, at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, she won the silver medal in the women's 400-meter freestyle event.[5]
On August 19, 1922, Wainwright set a world record in the women's 1500 metres freestyle swimming event,[3] which stood for over three years.
Shortly after the 1924 Olympics, she performed in swimming-and-diving shows at the New York Hippodrome along with fellow Olympians Aileen Riggin and Gertrude Ederle. They later toured round some of the biggest theaters in the U.S. using a portable water tank.[2][4]
Wainwright very nearly became the first woman to swim the English Channel in 1926; she was selected by the WSA to make the attempt but was forced to pull out due to an injury, so her teammate Gertrude Ederle was chosen to take her place.[2]
In the 1930s, she became a swimming coach on cruise liners out of New York.[2] She married a career military man, Lt. Cree Stelling.[3]
Wainwright was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1972.[4][6]
See also[]
- List of members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame
- List of athletes with Olympic medals in different disciplines
- List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)
- World record progression 1500 metres freestyle
References[]
- ^ "Helen Wainwright". Olympedia. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Wainwright, Helen". Channel Swimming Dover. Dover Museum. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c OlyMADMen. "Helen Wainwright". sports-reference.com/olympics. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c "Honorees: Helen Wainwright (USA), 1972 Honor Swimmer/Diver". International Swimming Hall of Fame. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
- ^ "Helen Wainwright at the Olympics". Olympian Database. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
- ^ "ISHOF Honorees by Last Name". ishof.org. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
External links[]
- 1906 births
- 1965 deaths
- American female divers
- American female freestyle swimmers
- Divers at the 1920 Summer Olympics
- World record setters in swimming
- Olympic silver medalists for the United States in diving
- Olympic silver medalists for the United States in swimming
- Olympic medalists in diving
- Sportspeople from New York City
- Swimmers at the 1924 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 1924 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 1920 Summer Olympics
- 20th-century American women
- 20th-century American people