Susan Christina von Saltza (born January 13, 1944), also known by her married name Christina Olmstead, is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in four events. As an age group swimmer, von Saltza swam for coach

George Haines George Frederick Haines (March 9, 1924 – May 1, 2006) was a competitive swimmer and coach who for twenty-three years coached the highly successful Santa Clara Swim Club which he founded in 1951. He later coached UCLA, Stanford University, ...

' Santa Clara Swim Club and led the club to multiple team championships at the nationals, in addition to winning nineteen individual

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 ...

(AAU) titles.Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes
Chris von Saltza
Retrieved September 29, 2012. She was featured on the July 21, 1958 cover of ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' magazine as the "No. 1 U.S. Swimmer at the Age of 14."
Sports Illustrated
' (July 21, 1958). Retrieved September 29, 2012. At the age of 16, she set the world record in the 400-meter freestyle at the U.S. Olympic trials, and proceeded to win four medals at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

in Rome. Individually, she won a gold medal in the women's 400-meter freestyle, and a silver in the Swimming at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Female 100 metre freestyle">100-meter freestyle. She won two more gold medals as a member of the winning U.S. teams in the women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay and Swimming at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 100 metre medley relay">4×100-meter medley relay. Both U.S. relay teams set new world records in their respective events. A year prior to the Olympics, von Saltza won five gold medals at the 1959 Pan American Games. Her wins came in the 100-, 200-, and 400-meter freestyle, as well as the 4×100-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter medley relays. Von Saltza later attended Stanford University, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Asian history. Stanford, like most major American universities, had no women's swimming and diving team prior to the enactment of

Title IX Title IX is a landmark federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receiv ...

, and von Saltza effectively retired from competition swimming after the 1960 Olympics. In US, Christina was socially styled "the Baroness von Saltza," as her grandfather, Philip von Saltza, was member of the Saltza family of German origin, which is still part of the

Swedish nobility The Swedish nobility (, or , ) has historically been a legally or socially privileged Social class, class in Sweden, and part of the so-called ''frälse'' (a derivation from Old Swedish meaning ''free neck''). The archaic term for nobility, ''fr ...

. They immigrated to the United States at the turn of the 20th century, and she is still recognized by her title in the ''Who's Who of Swedish Nobility''. Von Saltza was inducted into 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 ...

as an "Honor Swimmer" in 1966.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saltza, Chris 1944 births Living people American female freestyle swimmers American people of Swedish descent World record setters in swimming Swimmers from San Francisco Stanford University alumni Swimmers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming Olympic silver medalists for the United States in swimming Swimmers at the 1959 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1959 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in swimming 20th-century American sportswomen

See also

References

External links