Eleanor Garatti

Early life and swimming

Eleanor Garatti was born July 12, 1909, on Belvedere Island, California, the daughter of Italian immigrant Jennie Garatti and railroad worker Vincenzio Garatti, and grew up with three siblings. In 1915 her family relocated to San Rafael, in the North Bay region of San Francisco Bay. She graduated from San Rafael High School in 1927, even though the school offered no athletic program for girls. By 1930 she lived at 324 Second Street in San Rafael, just blocks from the San Rafael Municipal Baths where she first learned to swim.

Her family ran Garatti’s Market on B Street, a local spot famous for its ravioli. As a young swimmer, she trained with the San Rafael Swimming Club under Nat Williams, pool manager Harold Duffy, and coach Jim Ward, though she was largely self-taught early on. At age 15, local merchants raised money to send her to the National AAU Championships in St. Augustine, Florida. There, on February 10, 1925, she won the 50-yard sprint in a world-record 28.8 seconds, later trimming that to 27.6.

In September 1927, during a meet at the San Rafael pool that featured Olympic swimmer and future film star Johnny Weissmuller, she lowered her 100-yard time to 1:03.4. She worked as a stenographer for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. in San Rafael, alongside her coach James Ward. She later represented the Western Women’s Swim Club, based in San Francisco, in the late 1920s. Between 1925 and 1929, Garatti won four American National Sprint Championships.

Brief 100-meter world record

On August 7, 1929, Eleanor Garatti set a world record in the 100-meter freestyle at the AAU meet in Honolulu, clocking 1:10 in front of 500 spectators. Some accounts say she swam 1:09.8, making her the first woman to break the 1:10 barrier. Albina Osipowich broke that record on August 25 with a 1:09.4.

Olympics

Garatti represented the United States at the 1928 and 1932 Summer Olympics in the 100-meter freestyle and the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. She won a silver and a bronze medal in the 100-meter freestyle, becoming the first woman to win two Olympic medals in the event. She was the only U.S. relay team member to compete at both Olympics; both relay teams won gold and broke the world record. Her trip to the 1928 Olympic trials at Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York, on July 2, 1928, was sponsored by San Rafael merchants and citizens; she placed first in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 1:10.6.

The 1928 Olympic Women's Head Swimming Coach was Bob Kiphuth. On August 9, 1928, her 4×100-meter freestyle relay team set a world record of 4:47.60; the team included Adelaide Lambert, Albina Osipowich, Garatti, and Martha Norelius, with Josephine McKim and Susan Laird as alternates. Six countries competed; Great Britain took second, fifteen seconds behind, and South Africa third. Garatti's individual silver medal time in the 100-meter was 1:11.40, 0.4 seconds behind Osipowich's gold and world record of 1:11.

Joyce Cooper of Great Britain won bronze. Garatti and Osipowich both later swam under 1:10, but Garatti did so first. She received her medals from Holland's Queen Wilhelmina. On returning from the 1928 Olympics, she took the Sausalito Ferry and the Northwestern Pacific train to San Rafael; the train stopped at each town for greetings by mayors and residents.

At San Rafael's Union Station on September 6, 1928, the police chief and three brass bands escorted her to City Hall. She trained for the 1932 Olympics partly at San Francisco's Fleishhaker Pool.