Carolyn Wood (swimmer)
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Carolyn Wood at 1960 Olympics.
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||
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| Full name | Carolyn Virginia Wood | ||||||||||||
| National team |  United States |
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| Born | December 18, 1945 Portland, Oregon |
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| Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) | ||||||||||||
| Weight | 132 lb (60 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||
| Strokes | Butterfly, freestyle | ||||||||||||
| Club | Multnomah Athletic Club | ||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Carolyn Virginia Wood (born December 18, 1945) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder.
Contents
Early years
Wood was born in Portland, Oregon, and swam for the Multnomah Athletic Club swim team in her hometown of Portland.
1960 Olympics
At the 1960 U.S. Olympic Trials, Wood finished first in the 100-meter butterfly event and was favored to win the gold medal in the event at the Olympics. At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, however, during the women's 100-meter butterfly finals, she accidentally swallowed water during the turn and did not finish the race. She did win a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. team in the women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay, together with teammates Joan Spillane, Shirley Stobs and Chris von Saltza. She swam the crucial third leg of the relay, during which she caught up to and passed Australian swimmer Lorraine Crapp and gave a two-foot lead to anchor swimmer von Saltza, who finished the relay in first place to give the Americans the gold medal. The U.S. relay team set a new world record of 4:08.9 in the event final—nine seconds faster than the previous record. Wood also swam for the gold medal-winning U.S. team in the 4×100-meter medley relay, but under the international swimming rules in effect in 1960, she did not receive a medal because she did not swim in the event final. Individually, she competed in the 100-meter freestyle, and finished fourth in the event final with a time of 1:03.4. Wood, at 14 years old, was the youngest member of the 1960 U.S. Olympic team to win a medal.[1][2][3]
Life after swimming
Following the Olympics, Wood returned to her hometown of Portland, Oregon, where she attended Beaverton High School. During one summer, she worked as a lifeguard and was ruled a professional, and was therefore ineligible to swim in college or in subsequent Olympic Games.[1][4] Wood attended the University of Oregon[5] and became an English teacher. She taught at both Beaverton High School and Wilson High School in Portland.[6][7] She was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.[4][5]
See also
- List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)
- List of University of Oregon alumni
- World record progression 4 × 100 metres freestyle relay
References
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External links
- Carolyn Wood – Olympic athlete profile at Sports-Reference.com
Template:Footer USA Swimming 1960 Summer Olympics
- Use mdy dates from September 2015
- Pages with broken file links
- Pages using Infobox sportsperson with module2 parameter
- Pages using infobox swimmer with national team parameter
- 1945 births
- Living people
- American female freestyle swimmers
- Beaverton High School alumni
- Former world record holders in swimming
- Olympic gold medalists for the United States
- Olympic medalists in swimming
- Olympic swimmers of the United States
- Sportspeople from Portland, Oregon
- Swimmers at the 1960 Summer Olympics
- University of Oregon alumni
