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Helen Wainwright
Helen E. Wainwright (March 15, 1906 – October 8, 1965), also known by her married name Helen Stelling, was a competition diver and swimmer for the Women's Swimming Association of New York, who represented the United States at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, where she won a silver medal in 3-meter springboard diving and in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, where she won a silver medal in the 400-meter freestyle. She remains the only woman to ever win Olympic silver medals in both swimming and diving.
Helen Wainwright was born on March 15, 1906, the daughter of John Wainwright, a bricklayer from Lancaster, England, who emigrated to New York in 1888.
She was a member of the Women's Swimming Association (WSA) of New York a progressive organization founded by Charlotte Epstein in 1914. The organization was one of the first to advocate for women's membership in the AAU, women's participation in distance rather than just sprint events, and increasing and facilitating women's participation in the Olympics. Her WSA swimming coach Louis de B. Handley, a former Olympic Gold medalist, 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.
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 with a time of 6:03.8 in the women's 400-meter freestyle event. Although Gertrude Ederle would have been the favorite for the event, she had a poor Olympics. The American women swept the finals, with Martha Norelius winning the gold, and Trudy Ederle taking the bronze.
Demonstrating sustained dominance in distance freestyle, on August 19, 1922, Wainwright set a world record in the women's 1500 metres freestyle swimming event, a distance of around 1 mile, which stood for over three years.
During her exceptional swimming career, she held the world record at various times in the 50, 220, 440, and 880 yard freestyle events. With standard short course pool sizes having changed from 20 to 25 yards or meters since Wainwright's career, swimming events are all now multiples of 25 yards or meters in distance. She was national diving champion for the three years from 1923-1925.
Shortly after the 1924 Olympics, she performed in swimming-and-diving shows at the New York Hippodrome along with fellow U.S. Olympians and WSA colleagues Aileen Riggin and Gertrude Ederle. They later toured round some of the biggest theaters in the U.S. using a portable water tank.
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Helen Wainwright
Helen E. Wainwright (March 15, 1906 – October 8, 1965), also known by her married name Helen Stelling, was a competition diver and swimmer for the Women's Swimming Association of New York, who represented the United States at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, where she won a silver medal in 3-meter springboard diving and in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, where she won a silver medal in the 400-meter freestyle. She remains the only woman to ever win Olympic silver medals in both swimming and diving.
Helen Wainwright was born on March 15, 1906, the daughter of John Wainwright, a bricklayer from Lancaster, England, who emigrated to New York in 1888.
She was a member of the Women's Swimming Association (WSA) of New York a progressive organization founded by Charlotte Epstein in 1914. The organization was one of the first to advocate for women's membership in the AAU, women's participation in distance rather than just sprint events, and increasing and facilitating women's participation in the Olympics. Her WSA swimming coach Louis de B. Handley, a former Olympic Gold medalist, 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.
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 with a time of 6:03.8 in the women's 400-meter freestyle event. Although Gertrude Ederle would have been the favorite for the event, she had a poor Olympics. The American women swept the finals, with Martha Norelius winning the gold, and Trudy Ederle taking the bronze.
Demonstrating sustained dominance in distance freestyle, on August 19, 1922, Wainwright set a world record in the women's 1500 metres freestyle swimming event, a distance of around 1 mile, which stood for over three years.
During her exceptional swimming career, she held the world record at various times in the 50, 220, 440, and 880 yard freestyle events. With standard short course pool sizes having changed from 20 to 25 yards or meters since Wainwright's career, swimming events are all now multiples of 25 yards or meters in distance. She was national diving champion for the three years from 1923-1925.
Shortly after the 1924 Olympics, she performed in swimming-and-diving shows at the New York Hippodrome along with fellow U.S. Olympians and WSA colleagues Aileen Riggin and Gertrude Ederle. They later toured round some of the biggest theaters in the U.S. using a portable water tank.
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