Aileen Riggin: The Girl in the Pool

At the 1920 Games in Antwerp, Belgium, 14-year-old Aileen Riggin became the youngest Olympic champion to win a gold medal. She earned that distinction in the first women’s Olympic springboard diving event, competing on the first U.S. women’s swimming and diving team. Riggin accomplished more than simply diving well—the water events, held in a canal filled with deep, bitterly cold black water, tested the performers’ ability to weather the elements as well as their athletic prowess.

In those days many people believed that women who performed strenuous athletics would severely damage their health. It was considered especially dangerous for younger women, because it was feared that extreme physical exertion would make it impossible for the women to have children later. As a result, because of their youth, Riggin and Helen Wainwright, also 14 years old, almost did not make the U.S. Olympic team. Indeed, they were not allowed to wear the fashionable long skirts that were part of the U.S. women’s official uniforms but were given short skirts considered appropriate for girls. Riggin’s youth was accentuated by her small size; she weighed only 65 pounds (29.5 kg) and stood just 4 feet 7 inches (1.4 metres) tall.

After the 1920 Games Riggin’s parents’ worries about possible health risks led the young champion to quit competition for a year. She returned in 1922 and that same year became the subject of the first underwater and slow-motion swimming films. In 1924 she again made the U.S. Olympic team and competed in both swimming and diving events. She earned a silver medal for her springboard diving and a bronze medal in the 100-metre backstroke, becoming the first person—male or female—to win Olympic medals for both swimming and diving.

Although she turned professional in 1926, Riggin continued to score an impressive record of firsts. She soon became one of America’s first female sportswriters, and in 1937 she appeared in and helped organize Billy Rose’s first Aquacade. In the 1990s, while in her nineties, Riggin (now Aileen Soule) was still setting records. In 1996 she competed in the U.S. Masters Swimming Championships and set 11 national records and 5 world records in the 90–94 age group.