Helene Madison

Early life

Madison was born on June 9, 1913, in Madison, Wisconsin, and her family relocated to Seattle when she was a child. She began swimming at age 12 in Green Lake, one block from her home, and later participated in Seattle Parks Department swim programs. Recognized as a young talent by local coach Ray Daughters in 1928, she started competing at the Crystal Pool and later at the Washington Athletic Club, winning the 1928 Northwest High School Championship in one of her first major victories.

Freestyle records

Between 1930 and 1931, Helene Madison shattered sixteen world records across multiple freestyle distances. By 1932, she owned every official freestyle world record from 50 yards to a mile, plus American national marks in the 100m, 220yd, 500yd, and 800yd. Her 100-meter freestyle record stood for 15 years, her 500-yard record for 23, and she once clocked a 100-yard freestyle in exactly one minute.

1932 Olympics

Madison won three gold medals at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles: the women's 100-meter freestyle, 400-meter freestyle, and 4×100-meter freestyle relay. In the 100-meter final she swam 1:06.8, edging out silver medalist Willy den Ouden of the Netherlands by one second. In the 4x100 meter freestyle relay, she anchored the American team of Josephine McKim, Helen Johns, and Eleanor Garatti to a world record time of 4:38, defeating the Netherlands team that finished nine seconds later.

In the 400-meter freestyle, Madison was the standing world record holder and swam 5:28.5, finishing only one-tenth of a second ahead of American silver medalist Lenore Kight, with South African Jenny Maakal nineteen seconds behind. This race was Madison's last of the Olympics and the last of her swimming career. Following the Olympics, she was met in Seattle with a ticker-tape parade and a large reception, but two weeks later she swam in a paid exhibition and lost her amateur standing.

She appeared in the 1932 short film The Human Fish with a starring role, and had an uncredited role in The Warrior's Husband that same year; neither film was a large box office draw, and her attempt at nightclub entertainment was short-lived. Because she had worked as a professional actor, she was not allowed to participate in the 1936 Summer Olympics. In July 1934 she coached swimming briefly at Seattle's Alki Natatorium, and from 1948 to 1951 she coached Seattle's Moore Hotel Swimming Team, leading her women's squad to first place in the Chronicle Championship in August 1951.

Did You Know?

• She married Luther C. McCiver on March 6, 1937, while working as a student nurse in Seattle.
• Her ashes are held at a mausoleum in Acacia Memorial Park in Lake Forest Park, Washington.
• The Helene Madison Pool, built in 1970 in the Bitter Lake neighborhood of North Seattle, is dedicated to her memory.