Willy den Ouden

Willemijntje ("Willy") den Ouden (born January 1, 1918 in Rotterdam – died December 6, 1997 in Rotterdam) was a freestyle swimmer from the Netherlands, who represented her native country at two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1932. After having won two of the five contestable silver medals in Los Angeles, California, she claimed the gold medal in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay in Berlin four years later, alongside Tini Wagner, Rie Mastenbroek and Jopie Selbach.

However, Van Ouden was far more successful between these two Olympic games. On July 9 1933 in Antwerp, she broke Helene Madison's two-year old world record on the 100 m freestyle, setting it at 1:06.0. She would improve on this three times, reaching 1:04.6 on Feb 27 1936 in Amsterdam. This record would last until 1956 when its was broken twice within ten days by Dawn Fraser and Cocky Gastelaars, respectively. Thus, she held the world record on the prime distance in swimming for an unequalled and possibly unbeatable 22 years and 8 months.

Van Ouden further broke the world records on the 200 m freestyle (three times between 1933 and 1936), the 400 m freestyle (in 1934), and the now defunct distances of 100yd, 200yd, 300yd, 400yd, and 500m freestyle. She was also the anchor swimmer for the Dutch relay teams that broke the 4 x 100m freestyle relay record in 1934 and in 1936.

On Feb 4 1934, she became the first woman to swim 100 yards in under a minute (59.8 seconds).

Her parental house was destroyed on May 14 1940 in the bombing of Rotterdam during the German invasion of the Netherlands. All her medals and prizes were lost in the event. After the war she lived for many years in Sweden.

Van Ouden was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1970.

References

* [http://www.sport.nl/overige/deelnemersfinder/ Dutch Olympic Committee]
* [http://www.ishof.org/honorees/70/70wdenouden.html Entry at the International Swimming Hall of Fame]