Martha Norelius facts for kids
Martha Norelius at 1928 Olympics
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | January 22, 1909 Stockholm, Sweden |
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| Died | September 25, 1955 (aged 46) St. Louis, Missouri |
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| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Freestyle | |||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Women's Swimming Association | |||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Martha Maria Norelius (born January 22, 1909 – died September 25, 1955) was an amazing swimmer. She was born in Sweden but became an American Olympic champion. Martha won many gold medals and even held world records in five different freestyle swimming races!
Martha Norelius: A Swimming Star
Martha Norelius was born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1909. Her father, Charles Norelius, was also an Olympic swimmer for Sweden. He was Martha's swimming coach and helped her become a champion.
Martha showed her talent for swimming and diving very early. When she was just seven years old, she performed at an exhibition. This was at the Greenbrier pool, where her father taught swimming.
Her father, Charles, was offered a job in Florida to train the American swimming team. This happened after he competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. Martha became good friends with another top swimmer, Johnny Weissmüller. He was also trained by her father.
Olympic Gold Medals
At just 15 years old, Martha represented the United States at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. She won a gold medal in the women's 400-meter freestyle race. She even set a new Olympic record with her time of 6 minutes and 2.2 seconds! She swam faster than her fellow American teammates, Helen Wainwright and Gertrude Ederle.
Four years later, Martha competed in the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. There, she won two more gold medals!
- First, she won the women's 400-meter freestyle again. She broke her own record and set a new world record of 5 minutes and 42.8 seconds. She finished a whole fifteen seconds ahead of Dutch swimmer Marie Braun.
- Next, Martha and her American teammates won the gold medal in the women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay. Her teammates were Eleanor Garatti, Adelaide Lambert, and Albina Osipowich. They also set a new world record in this event with a time of 4 minutes and 47.6 seconds.
Records and Achievements
Between 1925 and 1929, Martha Norelius was incredibly successful. She won eleven individual titles from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). The AAU was a big sports organization in the United States. During this time, she also set at least 19 world records and 30 American records!
Martha is still the only woman to have won two Olympic gold medals in the 400-meter freestyle race back-to-back. This means she won it in two Olympics right after each other.
In 1929, Martha decided to become a professional swimmer. She won the ten-mile Wrigley Marathon in Toronto. There, she met Joseph Wright Jr., a Canadian Olympic rower. They got married on March 15, 1930, and later had a daughter named Diane in 1931.
Martha Norelius passed away in 1955 at the age of 46. She was honored for her amazing swimming career in 1967. She was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "honor swimmer."
See also
- List of members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame
- List of multiple Olympic gold medalists
- List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)
- World record progression 200 metres freestyle
- World record progression 400 metres freestyle
- World record progression 800 metres freestyle
- World record progression 1500 metres freestyle
- World record progression 4 × 100 metres freestyle relay
