An Olympic Silver Medalist In the Pool, Katie Grimes Finishes Top 15 In The Marathon Swim
Marathon swimmers face all sorts of conditions. In Paris, the open-water swimmers faced a mean current.
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GOLD
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SILVER
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BRONZE
Athlete Bio#
Age
77
Hometown
Santa Clara, CA
Education
Santa Clara High School (Santa Clara, Calif.) UCLA
Personal
Daughter of David and Martha de Varona...Has three siblings, Joanna, Kurt and David...Was the youngest member of the U.S. swimming team at the Olympic Games Rome 1960 at 13 years old...At age 17, became the first women to cover sports on network television for ABC’s “Wide World of Sports”...Served as a television personality on NBC Sports, ABC’s “Eyewitness News” in New York and the “TODAY Show”...Served as vice president of ABC Sports...Former chair of the USOC’s public relations and information committee...Named the Theodore Roosevelt Award winner by the NCAA Honors Committee in 2003.Olympic Experience
- 2-time Olympian; 3-time Olympic medalist (3 gold)
- Olympic Games Tokyo 1964, gold (4 x 100m Freestyle Relay - Women, 400m Individual Medley - Women), 5th (100m Butterfly - Women)
- Olympic Games Rome 1960, gold (4 x 100m Freestyle Relay - Women)
Hall Of Fame Bio #
At age 13, Donna de Varona was the youngest member of the United States swimming team at the Olympic Games Rome 1960. The San Diego native broke 18 world records by the age of 17, and won two gold medals when she competed in the 400-meter individual medley and the 4x100 freestyle relay at the Tokyo 1964 Games. She was named Female Athlete of the Year by both the Associated Press and United Press International. Following retirement at competitive Swimming at age 17, de Varona began a successful sportscasting career. She was both the first female sportscaster and first woman to cover the Olympics for television in the United States, covering the Olympic Games for ABC in 1968, 1972 and 1976. She earned her bachelor of arts degree in political science from UCLA. She helped co-found the Women’s Sports Foundation and served as the organization’s first president from 1976-84. She also worked as a consultant to the United States Senate, specifically regarding the Amateur Sports Act to give women and minorities greater access to athletics facilities and money. De Varona was inducted into the Women’s Sports Hall of Fame, the President’s Commission on Olympic Sports and International Swimming Hall of Fame.
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