Eleanor Holm: From Poolside to Press Box

Although swimmer Eleanor Holm didn’t compete at the 1936 Games, she garnered more press than many of the athletes who did. After winning a gold medal at the 1932 Games in Los Angeles, the young and attractive Holm moved to Hollywood, hoping to capitalize on her newfound celebrity. She auditioned for movie roles, married bandleader Art Jarrett, and joined the Hollywood social scene. In late 1933 she toured the country as a nightclub singer, playing smoky rooms by night and training in motel swimming pools by day. Her routine was surprisingly successful, and Holm became an early favorite to triumph in Berlin.

During the cruise across the Atlantic, Holm found herself continuously at odds with the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and its chairman, Avery Brundage. She argued for her right to buy her own first-class ticket but was forced to stay in the cramped third-class quarters assigned to athletes. Though members of the U.S. Olympic team were ordered to “refrain from smoking and the use of intoxicating drinks,” Holm was often found partying with journalists. Her penchant for the high life drew repeated warnings from the USOC but did little to deter her behaviour. When, on the night of July 23, Holm stumbled drunkenly into the chaperon for the women’s swimming team and then proceeded to hurl obscenities out her cabin porthole, the USOC had had enough. Holm was promptly removed from the team. She pleaded with Brundage for reinstatement, but he wasn’t swayed by her arguments, nor were letters from journalists and petitions from other athletes any more effective.

In Berlin the International News Service hired the ousted Holm as a reporter. Still upset about her termination, she wept when the U.S. team marched in, and she issued a public challenge to the winner of the 100-metre backstroke. Her case prompted the Germans to consider her a special visitor, and attention was lavished on her. Holm’s mood soon brightened, and she attended Nazi parties, mingling with Hermann Göring and Joseph Goebbels. She returned to the United States as popular as ever and went on to star in the Aquacades, a touring swimming revue.