Patty Caretto

Last updated
Patty Caretto
CarettoPattyOlympian.JPG
Caretto at 13, July, 1964, at the AAU Championships, breaking the 800, and 1500-meter World records
Personal information
Full namePatricia Serena Caretto
Nickname"Patty"
National teamUnited States
Born (1951-01-04) January 4, 1951 (age 73)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Height5 ft 3 in (1.60 m)
Weight123 lb (56 kg)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Freestyle
ClubPhillips 66, Long Beach
City of Commerce
Coach Don Gambril

Patricia Sarena Caretto (born January 4, 1951), 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. [1] [2] 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. [3]

Contents

Patty attended Whittier High School, where she competed with her High School team at least for a year after the Olympics and graduated around 1969, nearing the end of her competitive swimming career. [2] Some of her earliest swimming experience came when she swam with the Whittier Swim Association. [4]

Rosemead, City of Commerce Swim clubs

Her most significant swim training occurred as a young age group swimmer with the highly competitive City of Commerce Swimming Club, in Commerce, California, formerly Rosemead Swim Club under Hall of Fame and future Olympic Coach Don Gambril. Gambrill observed Patty swimming with the Whittier Swim Association, and was able to bring her to his own club. [4] Gambril's Rosemead Swim Club and then City of Commerce Clubs often attended national championships and had an exceptional women's team that included 1964 Olympians Sharon Stouder, Sandy Nitta, and Jeanne Halleck Craig. [5] [6] [2] [7]

1964 World Records

On July 30, 1964, at only 13, Patty set her first two world records at the AAU National Championships at California's Foothill College in Palo Alto. She completed the 1500-meter in 18.30.5, breaking the standing women's record by 13.5 seconds, and then set a new women's world record for the 800-meter free at the same meet with a 9:07.5. Patty was just over 5 feet at 13, and around 100 pounds, but she bettered many of the men's times in the 1500 event at Nationals. [8]

Her trademark competition stroke technique, known as the windmill, included rapid arm strokes with decreased kicks, around two-beats per two strokes. Unfortunately for Patty, an outstanding distance swimmer, her world record breaking events, the 800 and 1500-meter events were not part of Olympic competition in the 1964 Olympics, to be held that summer. [2]

Caretto dominated the 1500-meter event for a number of years, setting three world records in the 1,500-meter freestyle, one in 1964, discussed above, and then subsequent records in 1965, and 1966. An Olympic medal may well have been her legacy, had the 1964 Olympics included the mile, 1500-meter swim. Continuing to demonstrate strengths as a distance swimmer, while swimming for the Commerce Swim Club, she won the AAU outdoors in the 1,500m or 1,650y freestyle in 1964 through 66, and won the AAU indoor 500-yard freestyle in 1965. [9]

Patty did not qualify in the September, 1964 Olympic trials in New York, because she failed in the 400-meter qualifier against three world record holders. The shorter distance did not suit her distance swimming strengths. [3]

1968 Mexico City Olympics

Olympic trials

In the late August 1968 Olympic Trials in Los Angeles, Patty received a 9:18.5 in the 800-meter freestyle qualifier, placing her 8.1 seconds behind first place Debbie Meyer, a California-based swim athlete who was coached by Sherm Chavoor at the Arden Hills Swim Club in Sacramento. To beat Patty, Meyer swam a 9:10.4, which bettered Meyer's own pending world record of 9:17.8, and smashed her formerly standing 1968 record of 9:22.9. Meyer, who also set world records in the 200 and 400-meter swims, dominated the trial's distance events. [10] Though Patty's time was 4.4 seconds faster than Debbie's former standing world record set in 1968, it could not better Debbie Myer's new world record times. [9] [11]

1968 Olympics

Later in October, after travelling to the '68 Olympics in Mexico City as a 17-year-old, Patty placed fifth in the final of the women's 800-meter freestyle, despite a high American ranking in the event. According to a Los Angeles Times account, she had been struggling with illness during that time. [2] By 1968, longer distances in practices for women training for distance events had become more common in America, and Patty had stiff American competition. Her time of 9:51.3 was 12.7 seconds behind the time of bronze medalist Maria Ramirez of Mexico, who may have benefitted from training at higher altitude during much of her swimming career. [12]

Though the American women's team had trained for altitude at Colorado Springs, the Mexico City altitude affected the times of all the American women swimmers in the event. Debbie Myer finished 13 seconds behind and Pam Kruse finished 15 seconds behind her respective time in the 1968 Los Angeles Trials the prior month. Affected by altitude, fatigue, and recent illness, Patty finished a full 30 seconds behind her former qualifying time at the 1968 Los Angeles Trials the previous month. The American women's team was strong that year, and Debbie Meyer's time still set an Olympic record, with Americans taking three of the top five places. [1] [12]

Long Beach State College

Around 1969, Patty attended Long Beach State College, where she swam for one year, under the management of her former coach Don Gambril, who began his coaching there in 1967. Patty also swam some with the Phillips 66 Swim Club under Gambril in her later competitive years. [7] [2]

Post-Olympics

Caretto married her Cal State Long Beach classmate, in 1971. She taught physical education to students with motor-skill or learning disabilities in Garden Grove Unified School District in California and married Sam Brown, her second husband. The couple had two children. [2]

Caretto was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in May, 1987. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Gambril</span> American swimming coach

Donald Lee Gambril is an American former Hall of Fame swimming coach who is best known for coaching the University of Alabama from 1973 to 1990. His Alabama teams had top ten NCAA finishes eleven times, 3 Southeastern Conference titles, and were the runner-up at the NCAA Championship in 1977. Earlier, his Long Beach State teams had top ten NCAA finishes four times from 1968-71. He had the rare distinction of serving as a U.S. Olympic coach in five Olympics from 1968 to 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debbie Meyer</span> American swimmer

Deborah Elizabeth Meyer, also known by her married name Deborah Weber, is an American former competition swimmer, a three-time Olympic champion, and a former world record-holder in four events. Meyer won the 200-, 400-, and 800-meter freestyle swimming races in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. While she was still a 16-year-old student at Rio Americano High School in Sacramento, California, she became the first swimmer to win three individual gold medals in one Olympics, winning the 200-, 400-, and 800-meter freestyle swimming races. Katie Ledecky is the only other female swimmer to have done the same, in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.

<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">Zac Zorn</span> American swimmer

Zachary Zorn is an American former competition swimmer for the University of California Los Angeles and a 1968 Olympic gold medalist in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay. An exceptional freestyle sprinter, he was a member of three world record setting 4x100-meter freestyle relay teams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claudia Kolb</span> American swimmer (born 1949)

Claudia Anne Kolb, also known by her married name Claudia Thomas, is an American former competition swimmer, swim coach, two-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in four events.

John "Jonty" Alexander Skinner is a former Hall of Fame South African competition swimmer and world record-holder, who for over forty years served as an American club and college swimming coach primarily at his alma mater, the University of Alabama before retiring as a coach in 2020. He coached the US national team in the mid-1990s, remaining as a Director of Team Performance through 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thelma Kalama</span> American swimmer

Thelma H. Kalama, later known by her married name Thelma Aiu after 1960, was an American competition swimmer, 1948 London Olympic gold medalist in the freestyle relay, and a marine veteran. She was the second woman to represent Hawaii in the Olympics.

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">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">Jo Harshbarger</span> American swimmer

Jo Ann Harshbarger is an American former competition swimmer and world record-holder. At the age of 15, Harshbarger competed in the 800-meter freestyle finals at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, and a year later was a silver medalist in the 800-meter freestyle at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. She set world records in the 800-meter freestyle in 1972 and 1974, and in the 1,500-meter freestyle in 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katie Ledecky</span> American swimmer (born 1997)

Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky is an American competitive swimmer. She has won nine Olympic gold medals and 21 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. With 14 medals and 9 gold medals, she is also the most decorated American woman, most decorated female swimmer, the female with the most gold medals and fifth most decorated athlete in Olympic history. She has won a record 16 individual gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships. Ledecky's eight individual medals at the Olympics and 26 overall medals at the World Aquatics Championships are records in women's swimming‌. Ledecky is the world record holder in the women's 800- and 1500-meter freestyle, as well as the former world record holder in the women's 400-meter freestyle. She also holds the fastest-ever times in the women's 500-, 1000-, and 1650-yard freestyle events. She is widely regarded as the greatest female swimmer of all time and one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Hooker</span> American swimmer

Jennifer Leigh Hooker, also known by her married name Jennifer Brinegar, is an American former competition swimmer who represented the United States at only 15 at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec. She swam for Indiana University where she received a business degree in 1984, and later practiced law after receiving a Juris Doctor degree from Vanderbilt University. After receiving a Master's in Sports Management in 1996 at Indiana University, she worked for their athletic department, becoming an assistant athletic director in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judy Melick</span> American swimmer (born 1954)

Judith Ellen Melick is an American former competition swimmer who swam with the Scarlet Jets Swim Club, and Rutgers University under Coach Frank Elm and swam the 100-meter breaststroke event as part of the U.S. team at the 1972 Summer Olympics.

<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">Bill Farley</span> American swimmer and coach (1944–2018)

William Winfield Farley was a 1964 Tokyo Olympic competitor in the 1500-meter event, and an All-American competition swimmer specializing in distance freestyle events for the University of Michigan. He worked as an American businessman in the Philippines, Tokyo and Hawaii, and served as a swimming coach for over 25 years, best known for leading Princeton Varsity Men's swimming to six Eastern Seaboard championships and five Ivy League titles from 1969-1979.

Alexandra Hauka Nitta, usually referred to as "Sandra" or "Sandy" is an American former competition swimmer who represented the United States in the 100-meter breaststroke as a 15-year-old at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Highly instrumental in the development and advancement of women's Water Polo in America, she had a forty-year career as a water polo coach, and administrator with an induction into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame in 1998. In her longest coaching assignments, she was the US Women's National Team Water Polo coach from 1980 to 1994, and coached Team Vegas/Henderson from 1994 to 1999 and from 2000 to 2014, later serving as a Director.

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

Juan Carlos Bello is a Peruvian former butterfly, freestyle and medley swimmer. He was an outstanding competitor for the University of Michigan swim team and represented Peru at the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics. He later worked as a coach and served as the President of the National Swimming Foundation of Peru.

References

  1. 1 2 Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Swimming at the 1968 Ciudad de México Summer Games, Women's 800 metres Freestyle Final. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Norwood, Robyn (May 8, 1987). "Pat Brown's Fame Not So Fleeting After All : She's Named to the Swimming Hall of Fame for Her Record-Breaking Career". Los Angeles Times .
  3. 1 2 3 "Patty Caretto (USA)". ISHOF.org. International Swimming Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
  4. 1 2 Kanner, Burt, Don Gambril: A Coach With a Heart, Biography, (2022), Published by Swimming World, U.S. Swimming Hall of Fame, pg. 36
  5. ↑ "Olympedia Bio, Sandy Nitta". www.olympedia.org. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  6. ↑ "Sharon Stouder, August Athlete in Helm's Vote", Arcadia Tribune, Arcadia, California, pg. 15, 20 September 1964
  7. 1 2 Kanner, Burt, Don Gambril: A Coach With a Heart, Biography, (2022), Published by Swimming World, U.S. Swimming Hall of Fame, pgs. 1-32, Teaching at Rosemeade High, pg. 33, "Club Team Wins Nationals", City of Commerce Club, pg. 40, Long Beach State, pg. 45, Sharon Stouder, Patty Caretto, world record holders, pg. 144.
  8. ↑ "AAU Meet, Ten World Marks Fall", The Berkeley Gazette, Berkeley, California, 3 August 1964, pg. 6
  9. 1 2 "Patty Caretto, Olympedia Biography". Olympedia. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  10. ↑ "River Rats Lead Fastest U.S. Team", Oakland Tribune, Oakland, California, 29 August 1968, pg. 40
  11. ↑ "Swimming at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Games: Women's 800 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  12. 1 2 "1968 Olympics, 800-Meter freestyle, Results". Olympedia. Retrieved 2023-09-27.


Records
Preceded by Women's 800-meter freestyle
world record-holder (long course)
July 30, 1964 – September 28, 1964		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Carolyn House
 Women's 1,500-meter freestyle
world record-holder (long course)
July 30, 1964 – July 9, 1967		Succeeded by


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.