Barbara Gilders-Dudeck

As an 18-year old Detroit native and Mackenzie High School graduate, Barbara Gilders proudly represented the United States in the sport of three-meter springboard diving at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.

During her lone Olympic competition, Barbara Gilders narrowly missed a trip to the medals podium.

Emerging from the preliminaries in third place, Gilders ended up fourth overall with a score 120.76; the bronze medal went to Canada's Irene MacDonald at 121.40. Miss McDonald had become her nation's first Olympic medal winner and, from that day forward, the names of Barbara Gilders and Irene MacDonald were forever linked in Canadian and U.S. amateur sports history.

Jeanne Stunyo of Gary, Indiana earned the silver medal, and the 1956 Olympic gold medal in springboard diving was awarded to Patricia McCormick of Seal Beach, California.

Barbara Gilders and her teammate Jeanne Stunyo were sponsored at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials by the Detroit Athletic Club.

Noteworthy

*Barbara Gilders (Dudeck) is the younger sister of Fletcher Gilders, a former two-time NCAA Diving Champion at Ohio State. Brother "Fletch" was also a Hall of Fame Diving Coach for Ohio University and three-time NCAA Division III Coach of the Year at Kenyon College.
*John and Barbara Gilders-Dudeck are the parents of Diane Dudeck, the one-meter springboard gold medalist at the 1981 U.S. Indoor Diving Championships. While competing for the University of Michigan in 1984, Diane Dudeck was named Big Ten Conference Diver of the Year for her gold medal performance on the one-meter board; Miss Dudeck was also a 1984 NCAA All-American. Two years later, Miss Dudeck earned a silver medal and All-American honors for the University of Arkansas on the one-meter board at the 1986 NCAA Championships.
*While competing for Michigan State University, John Dudeck won consecutive Big Ten Conference Championships in the 100-yard breaststroke event (1953 & 1954).

Sources

*1956 Summer Olympics
* [http://bigten.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/big10/genrel/auto_pdf/0708records-women-swimming Big Ten Women's Swimming and Diving]
* [http://bigten.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/big10/genrel/auto_pdf/0708records-men-swimming Big Ten Men's Swimming and Diving]