Martha Norelius

Biography

Martha Norelius was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1909. Her father, Charles Norelius, had been an Olympic swimmer for Sweden in 1912 and later became her coach. She first showed her talent at age seven during an exhibition at the Greenbrier pool, where her father taught swimming. He later moved to Florida to train the U.S. team, and Martha became close friends with Johnny Weissmüller, another swimmer her father coached.

At 15, she represented the United States at the 1924 Paris Olympics, winning gold in the women's 400-meter freestyle with an Olympic record of 6:02.2, beating Americans Helen Wainwright and Gertrude Ederle. In 1928, she won two more golds in Amsterdam: the 400-meter freestyle with a world record of 5:42.8, defeating Marie Braun by fifteen seconds, and the 4x100-meter freestyle relay with teammates Eleanor Garatti, Adelaide Lambert, and Albina Osipowich, setting another world record.

Between 1925 and 1929, she earned eleven AAU titles and set at least 19 world and 30 American records. She was the only woman to win back-to-back Olympic 400-meter freestyle golds until Ariarne Titmus did so in 2024. Turning professional in 1929, she won the ten-mile Wrigley Marathon in Toronto, where she met Canadian rower Joseph Wright Jr. They married in 1930 and had a daughter, Diane, in 1931. Norelius died in 1955 at age 46 after gall bladder surgery and was buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery. She entered the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an honor swimmer in 1967.