Sandra Baldwin (born 1938 or 1939) was the first female president of USA Swimming from 1984 to 1986 and the

United States Olympic Committee The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...

from 2000 to 2002 until her resignation.

Early life and education

Sandra Baldwin spent her childhood in

Mesa, Arizona Mesa ( ) is a city in Maricopa County, in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is the most populous city in the East Valley section of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. It is bordered by Tempe on the west, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Communit ...

. From 1956 to 1959, Baldwin attended the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sy ...

before moving to

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

. At Arizona State, she graduated in 1962 with a bachelor's degree.

Career

In the 1970s, Baldwin remained at Arizona State as an English teacher. She previously worked for the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

before moving to USA Swimming in 1978. While she was working in real estate, Baldwin became USA Swimming's first female president from 1984 to 1986 and

USA Shooting USA Shooting (USAS), a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, was chartered by the United States Olympic Committee as the National Governing Body (NGB) for the sport of shooting in April 1995. The NRA had served as the NGB for one hundred years prio ...

's president from 1994 to 1995. In 2000, Baldwin was elected as the first woman president of the

after completing a four-year term as vice president of the committee. The following year, she was nominated to become a member of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swis ...

. In 2002, Baldwin resigned from her position as President of the U.S. Olympic Committee when it was revealed there was conflicting information about her educational background. Her biography on the USOC's website falsely claimed that she completed a degree in English at the

and an American literature degree at

. Outside of her career as USOC president, Baldwin was the

head of mission In diplomatic usage, head of mission (HOM) or chief of mission (COM) from the French "chef de mission diplomatique" (CMD) is the head of a diplomatic representation, such as an ambassador, high commissioner, nuncio, chargé d'affaires, perma ...

for the American team at the

1995 Pan American Games File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake stri ...

and the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

Awards and honors

Baldwin won a USA Swimming Athletes Committee award in 1986 and the USA Swimming award in 1990. In 2001, Baldwin was awarded the Gold Medallion by the

International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the stu ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baldwin, Sandra Year of birth uncertain Living people United States Olympic Committee International Olympic Committee members Presidents of the United States Olympic Committee