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| Full name | Elaine Tanner-Watt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | "Mighty Mouse" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National team | Canada | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | February 22, 1951 Vancouver, British Columbia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 61 kg (134 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Backstroke, butterfly, freestyle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Pacific Dolphins | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Elaine Tanner-Watt, OC (born February 22, 1951) is a Canadian former competition swimmer. Olympic medallist, and former world record-holder in two events.
Nicknamed "Mighty Mouse" [1] partly because of her small stature (standing barely five feet tall) and partly due to her competitive drive, Tanner had a large impact on Canadian swimming and is considered one of the top performers in the sport. [2]
During the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica, Tanner won four gold medals and three silvers, becoming the first woman to ever win four golds at a Commonwealth Games and the first person to get seven medals in those games. [3] She won the Lou Marsh Trophy, recognizing her as Canada's best athlete in 1966 — the youngest person to ever receive the award — and was also selected as the country's top athlete overall. [4] The following year at the 1967 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Tanner won two gold and three silver medals, breaking two world records in the process. [5] Tanner arrived at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City as a heavy medal favorite. She won three Olympic medals in Mexico City, including two individual silver medals and one relay bronze. [5] However, the media deemed the lack of gold a disappointment and led Tanner to suffer from depression, retiring from competition after the 1968 Olympics at just 18 years of age. [5]
Despite being of Canadian nationality she also won the ASA National British Championships over 110 yards butterfly in 1965. [6]
In 1969, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1971. [4] The Elaine Tanner Award has been presented to Canada's top junior female athlete since 1972. [7]
Following the games, Tanner fell into a depression that lasted decades, developed a serious eating disorder, suffered anxiety attacks and had her first marriage end after 9 years in 1980, with two children that wound up going to the custody of the father in Prince George as Tanner remained in Vancouver. Roaming around Canada doing odd jobs and eventually having a failed second marriage that ended in 1987, [8] by 1988 she was living off her car, jobless, and feeling suicidal, but eventually found her footing again after meeting former lifeguard John Watt. She married him five years later, [9] and lives with him in White Rock, British Columbia. They have a charity organization, Team Underdog. [2]
Krisztina Egerszegi is a Hungarian former world record holding swimmer and one of the greatest Hungarian Olympic champions of the modern era. She is a three-time Olympian and five-time Olympic champion; and one of four individuals to have ever won the same swimming event at three consecutive Summer Olympics. She is the first female swimmer to win five individual Olympic gold medals.
Petria Ann Thomas, is an Australian swimmer and Olympic gold medallist and a winner of 15 national titles. She was born in Lismore, New South Wales, and grew up in the nearby town of Mullumbimby.
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Natalie Anne Coughlin Hall is an American former competition swimmer and twelve-time Olympic medalist. While attending the University of California, Berkeley, she became the first woman ever to swim the 100-meter backstroke in less than one minute—ten days before her 20th birthday in 2002. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she became the first U.S. female athlete in modern Olympic history to win six medals in one Olympiad, and the first woman ever to win a 100-meter backstroke gold in two consecutive Olympics. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she earned a bronze medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.
Kirsty Leigh Coventry Seward is a Zimbabwean swimmer and politician currently serving as the Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation in the Cabinet of Zimbabwe since September 2018. A former Olympic swimmer and world record holder, she is the most decorated Olympian from Africa. She is a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and was elected the Chairperson of the IOC Athletes' Commission, the body that represents all Olympic athletes worldwide in early 2018.
Jessica Deglau was a member of the Canadian Olympic team in swimming in the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games. Deglau swam for the Vancouver Pacific Swim Club in her youth, until becoming a member of the national team. In addition to swimming on the national team, she swam for and graduated from the University of British Columbia.
Jeffrey Norman Rouse is an American former competition swimmer, three-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in three events.
Lorraine Joyce Thurlow,, née Crapp, is a former Olympic swimming champion representing Australia. In world swimming history, Crapp earned a place as the first woman to break the five-minute barrier in the 400 m freestyle.
Donna-Marie Gurr, CM is a former swimmer from Canada, who won the bronze medal in the 200m backstroke at the 1972 Summer Olympics.
Susan Christina von Saltza, also known by her married name Christina Olmstead, is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in four events.
Charles Buchanan Hickcox was an American competition swimmer, three-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in six events.
Ellen Elizabeth King was a Scottish competitive swimmer who represented Great Britain twice in the Olympics, and Scotland at the inaugural British Empire Games. King was a versatile swimmer, and competed in various backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle swimming events.
Kaye Marie Hall, later known by her married name Kaye Greff, is an American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in two events.
Eleanor Suzanne Daniel, also known by her married name Ellie Drye, is an American former competition swimmer, four-time Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder.
Lillian Debra Watson, commonly known by her nickname Pokey Watson, and later by her married name Lillian Richardson, is an American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in three events.
Betsy Mitchell is an American competition swimmer who was a world record-holder, world champion, and Olympic gold and silver medalist. She also was a member of the United States' 1994 Rowing World Championship team.
Angela Denise Coughlan, O.Ont. was a Canadian competition swimmer. At the peak of her competitive swimming career from 1968 to 1971, she was the best Canadian female freestyle specialist, going undefeated in freestyle events at Canadian meets during that time, as well as breaking a world record and 13 Canadian national long course records. As a member of the Canadian national swim team, she anchored the 4x100-metre freestyle and 4x100-metre medley relay teams, and earned both individual and team relay medals at the 1967 Pan American Games, the 1968 Olympics, the 1970 Commonwealth Games and the 1971 Pan American Games. Named Canadian Female Athlete of the Year in 1970, she retired from competitive swimming in 1972 at the age of 19. Part of her post-competitive career was spent as a swim coach and mentor to younger swimmers. She was inducted into the Ontario Aquatic Hall of Fame and the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame.
Susanne Jean Atwood is an American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder in two events.
Marion Beverly Lay, is a former competitive swimmer who represented Canada in the 1964 Summer Olympics and 1968 Summer Olympics. Swimming the anchor leg for Canada's third-place team in the women's 4x100-metre freestyle relay, she won an Olympic bronze medal, together with teammates Angela Coughlan, Marilyn Corson and Elaine Tanner.
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