Barbara Hounsell

Last updated

Barbara Hounsell
Personal information
Full nameBarbara Jeanne Hounsell
NationalityCanadian
Born (1951-07-06) 6 July 1951 (age 73)
Toronto, Ontario (CAN)
Height165 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Weight50 kg (110 lb)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokesfreestyle, medley
ClubWhittier Swim Association
City of Commerce
(Commerce City, CA)
Coach Don Gambril
(City of Commerce)
Howard Kirby
(Canadian Olympic Team)

Barbara Jeanne Hounsell (born 6 July 1951) is a female Canadian former swimmer, born in Toronto, Canada. Hounsell competed in two events at the 1964 Summer Olympics. [1] Despite being of Canadian nationality she won the 440 yards medley title in 1965 at the ASA National British Championships. [2]

Contents

California swimmer

Coach Don Gambril GambrilDonCoach1984.jpg
Coach Don Gambril

Hounsell lived in Whittier, California and the Los Angeles area for much of her life prior to the 1964 Olympics. By the age of 10, she swam with the Whittier Swim Association team under Coach Paul Gerards where in 1962, the team enjoyed an undefeated Winter season, and Barbara swam freestyle relays and 50-meter races. [3] She did her more intense physical training with Hall of Fame Coach Don Gambril at the highly competitive Rosemead Swim Club and then the City of Commerce Swim Club. [4] [5] [6]

At the Beverly Hills Invitational in January 1964, she placed second in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 5:04.6, edging out future gold medal Olympic swimmer and City of Commerce teammate Sharon Stouder. Barbara's time was four seconds from the first-place finisher. [7]

American age-group 200-yard IM record

At the age of 12, in May 1964, at the Southern Pacific AAU Swim Championships at the City of Commerce Pool, she eclipsed her own 200-yard Individual Medley American record for girls 11-12 by two seconds with a time of 2:23.1. [8]

Canadian national medley record

At the 1964 National Championships in Toronto, Barbara won the 220-yard Individual Medley with a time of 2:40.9, breaking the Canadian National Record, and won the 440-yard Individual Medley with a 5:33, only 2.3 seconds off the World Record. [9]

1964 Tokyo Olympics

In September 1964, though she was a resident of California, as she was born in Toronto, Barbara qualified for the Olympics swimming for Canada at the Olympic Trials held at Empire Pool in Vancouver, Canada. [9] At only 13 years, and a little over 3 months she was Canada's youngest swimmer to ever participate in the Olympics. [10]

As a distance swimmer at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, she swam the 400-meter freestyle in October, placing eighteenth with a time of 5:04.9, [11] and the 400-meter individual medley, placing ninth with a time of 5:38.4. Her 400-meter free results put her about 17 seconds out of bronze medal contention, and her 400-meter individual medley results put her about 14.2 seconds behind contending for a bronze medal. [12] More significantly, as only the first eight finish times qualified for the finals, she did not make the finals in either event.

Canadian Nationals gold medal

She won a first place gold medal in the 200-meter Individual Medley with a record time of 2:38.5 at the National Canadian Swimming Championships in Alberta, Canada in late July, 1965. [13]

Barbara continued to swim as a Masters swimmer at 35, and in 1986 was swimming and competing with Santa Monica Masters in Santa Monica, California, outside Los Angeles. Santa Monica had a strong program with several other former Olympians and was coached by Clay Evans, a 1972 Olympian for Canada. She had swum with the Trojan masters near USC as a 28 year old in 1979. [14] [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dara Torres</span> American Olympic swimmer

Dara Grace Torres is an American former competitive swimmer, who is a 12-time Olympic medalist and former world record-holder in three events. Torres is the first swimmer to represent the United States in five Olympic Games, and at age 41, the oldest swimmer to earn a place on the U.S. Olympic team. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she competed in the 50-meter freestyle, 4×100-meter medley relay, and 4×100-meter freestyle relay, and won silver medals in all three events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tracy Caulkins</span> American swimmer

Tracy Anne Stockwell, OAM,, née Tracy Anne Caulkins, is an American former competition swimmer, three-time Olympic gold medalist, five-time world champion, and former world record-holder in three events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shirley Babashoff</span> American swimmer

Shirley Frances Babashoff is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in multiple events. Babashoff set six world records and earned a total of nine Olympic medals in her career. She won a gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle relay in both the 1972 and 1976 Olympics, and she won the 1975 world championship in both the 200-meter and 400-meter freestyle. During her career, she set 37 national records and for some time held all national freestyle records from the 100-meter to 800-meter event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharon Stouder</span> American swimmer (1948–2013)

Sharon Marie Stouder, also known by her married name Sharon Stouder Clark, was an American competition swimmer, three-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in four events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Wayte</span> American swimmer

Mary Alice Bradburne is an American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and television sports commentator. During her international swimming career, Wayte won ten medals in major international championships, including four golds.

Tiffany Lisa Cohen is an American former swimmer who was a double gold medalist at the 1984 Summer Olympics in the 400-meter and 800-meter freestyle.

Jenna Leigh Johnson is an American former competition swimmer and Olympic gold medalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rod Strachan</span>

Rodney Strachan is an American former high school and college competition swimmer, 1976 Olympic gold medalist, and physician with a specialization in internal medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Smit</span> American swimmer (born 1987)

Julia Elizabeth Smit is an American competition swimmer, two-time Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder in two events. She has won a total of nine medals in major international competition, six golds, two silvers, and one bronze spanning the Olympics and Pan American Games.

Caroline Stilwell Axel Burckle is an American former competition swimmer and Olympic bronze medalist.

Jack Babashoff Jr. is an American former competition swimmer and a 1976 Olympic silver medal winner in the 100 meter freestyle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evelyn Kawamoto</span> American swimmer (1933–2017)

Evelyn Tokue Kawamoto, also known by her married name as Evelyn Konno, was an American competition swimmer, and American record holder, who won bronze medals in the 400-meter individual freestyle and the 4x100-meter freestyle relay events at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. She set American records in both the 300-meter IM and 200-meter breaststroke in 1949. After graduating the University of Hawaii in her 30's with a degree in Education, she worked as an elementary school teacher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharon Finneran</span> American swimmer (born 1946)

Sharon Evans Finneran, also known by her married name Sharon Rittenhouse, is an American former Hall of Fame competitive swimmer, and was a 1964 Olympic silver medalist in the 400-meter individual medley, having set a world record in the event in 1962. She also set world records in the 200-meter butterfly, and 200-meter breaststroke, making her the first woman to hold world records in three events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patty Caretto</span> American swimmer

Patricia Sarena Caretto, also known by her married name Patricia Brown, is an American former competition swimmer, 1968 Olympic competitor, and 1964 world record-holder in two distance freestyle events. She is a former world record holder in the women's 800-meter and 1,500-meter freestyle, having set world records in those events on eight occasions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marilyn Corson</span> Canadian swimmer (born 1950)

Marilyn Corson, later known by her married name Marilyn Whitney, is a Canadian former competitive swimmer and 1968 Olympic Bronze medalist who swam for Michigan State and competed for Canada in both the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics. She later worked as an interior designer with her own company, and after obtaining a Doctorate worked as a Professor of Art and Design at Savannah College of Art and Design and Adrian College in Michigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sue Heon</span> American swimmer

Susan Helen Heon, later known by her married name Susan Preston, is an American former competition swimmer who swam for the University of Pittsburgh receiving All America Honors all four years of her college elgibility and setting seven school records. She qualified for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team, but was unable to attend the Moscow Olympics due to the U.S. boycott. She represented the United States at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, placing fourth in the finals of the 400-meter Individual Medley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Hartloff</span> American swimmer

Paul Michael Hartloff is an American former competition swimmer who represented the United States at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec. Hartloff competed in the men's 1,500-meter freestyle event, but in a highly competitive year finished seventh in the final. After qualifying for the 1976 Olympics at the Olympic Trials in Long Beach, California, he set an Olympic record on July 19, 1976, in a qualifying heat for the 1,500-meter event at the 1976 Montreal Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, with a time of 15:20.74, but in a highly competitive year, his time was a full 14 seconds slower than American Olympic team mate Brian Goodell's recent standing world record of 15:06.66.

Jennifer Ann Bartz, also known by her married name Jennifer McGillin, is an American former competition swimmer who took fourth place at the 200 and 400-meter individual medley, for the United States at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. Later, swimming for the University of Miami as one of the first women to receive a collegiate swimming scholarship, she helped lead the team to the AIAW national collegiate swimming championships in 1975, before transferring to swim for Hall of Fame coach George Haines at UCLA her Junior and Senior year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeanne Hallock</span> American swimmer

Jeanne Courtney Hallock, also known by her married name Jeanne Craig, is an American former club, High School, and Olympic competition swimmer who was voted to the AAU All America team twice. Serving as the U.S. team Co-Captain, she swam in the preliminary heats of the gold medal winning women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, though she did receive a medal as she did not swim in the finals. She also swam in the 1964 Olympic preliminaries for the 100-meter freestyle, her signature event, but did not make the finals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abbey Weitzeil</span> American swimmer (born 1996)

Abbigail "Abbey" Weitzeil is an American competition swimmer specializing in sprint freestyle. A multiple time Olympic medalist, she won a gold medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay for swimming in the preliminary heats and a silver medal in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay at the 2016 Rio Olympics. At the 2020 Summer Olympics she won a silver medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay and a bronze medal in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, swimming in the final of both events. She is the American record holder in the 50-yard freestyle and is part of the American Record in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay.

References

  1. ↑ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Barbara Hounsell Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  2. ↑ "From a Swimming Correspondent. "Miss Long Sets Three New Marks In One Race." Times, 12 Aug. 1965, p. 4". Times Digital Archive.
  3. ↑ "Local Swim Team Meets Meet Title", The Daily News, Whittier, California, 7 February 1962, p. 11
  4. ↑ "Cal Southland Boasts", Eagle Rock Sentinel, Los Angeles, California, 27 August 1964, p. 12
  5. ↑ "Swim Coach Moves to Pasadena Post", Daily News-Post, Monrovia, California, 19 April 1965, p. 13
  6. ↑ "Olympedia Bio, Barbara Hounsell". www.olympedia.org. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  7. ↑ "Palo Alto Girl Sets American Swim Record", The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, 13 January 1964, p. 47.
  8. ↑ "Hounsel Betters U.S. Record in SPAAAU Swim", Independent, Long Beach, California, 18 May 1964, p. 18
  9. 1 2 Stewart, Duncan, "American-Canadians Win Olympic Birth", The Vancouver Sun, Vancouver, Canada, 8 September 1964, p. 19
  10. ↑ "An 11-year-old qualified for the Olympics — and that's not even a record". cbc. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  11. ↑ "1964 Olympics, 400-meter Freestyle Finals, Women". www.olympedia.org. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  12. ↑ "1964 Olympics, 400-meter Individual Medley Finals, Women". www.olympedia.org. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  13. ↑ Jones, Terry, "Gilchrist Sets Record in Individual Medley", Red Deer Advocate, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, 31 July 1965
  14. ↑ Landman, Brian, "Still in the Swim, Former Olympians Enjoy Masters", The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, 18 September 1986, p. 344
  15. ↑ "USMS Top 10". usms.org. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.