Claudia Kolb

Claudia Kolb

Personal information
Born	December 19, 1949
Medal record Women's swimming Competitor for the  United States Olympic Games Gold 1968 Mexico City 200 m medley Gold 1968 Mexico City 400 m medley Silver 1964 Tokyo 200 m breaststroke Pan American Games Gold 1967 Winnipeg 200 m medley Gold 1967 Winnipeg 400 m medley Gold 1967 Winnipeg 200 m butterfly Silver 1967 Winnipeg 200 m breaststroke

Claudia Ann Kolb (born December 19, 1949 in Hayward, California-- the third of ten children) is a retired breaststroke and medley swimmer from the United States, who won her first Olympic medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics when she was fourteen years of age. It was a silver one, in the 200 m breaststroke in Tokyo, Japan.

Four years later, when Mexico City hosted the Games, Kolb was at her best. She ruled in the women's individual medley, and won gold in the 200 m and in the 400 m. During the 1960s she set numerous world records in the medley.

Kolb, who swam with the Santa Clara Swim Club and was coached by George Haines, first burst into prominence in 1964, when she was fourteen years old, by winning the AAU outdoor 100- and 200-meter breaststroke championships and the indoor 100y breaststroke title. She repeated in both outdoor breaststroke championships in 1965, when she also won the 200 m individual medley.

Although she had set a world record of 1:17.9 in the 100 m breaststroke in 1964 and won a surprising silver medal in the 200 m event at the Olympics, Kolb in 1966 decided to concentrate on the individual medley races.

Going into the 1968 Summer Olympics, Kolb held world records of 2:23.5 in the 200 m individual medley and 5:04.7 in the 400 m, and she was the favorite to win gold medals in both events. She didn't disappoint, winning both races easily. Her 20 m margin in the 400 m was the most decisive Olympic victory by a woman swimmer since 1928.

Claudia Kolb's married name is Claudia Thomas. She retired from competition after the Mexico Olympics. She has coached swimming at clubs in South Bend, Indiana, and Santa Clara, California at Stanford University, and at the Pacific University. Her Stanford swimmers won the 1980 NCAA team championship. She currently lives in Oregon.

References

• databaseOlympics
• St Clare Parish Sunday Bulletin article on Barbara Kolb written by Lorrie Blythe, February 22, 2009, Santa Clara, California

Records
Preceded by Lynn Vidali	Women's 200 metre individual medley world record holder (long course) August 21, 1966 – August 28, 1972	Succeeded by Shane Gould
Preceded by Donna de Varona	Women's 400 metre individual medley world record holder (long course) July 9, 1967 – July 9, 1972	Succeeded by Gail Neall

Persondata
Name	Kolb, Claudia
Alternative names
Short description	Olympic medalist in swimming in the 1960's
Date of birth	December 19, 1949
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death