Marilyn Ramenofsky (born August 20, 1946) is an American former competition

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

, Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder in the 400-meter swim. After 2008, she worked as a researcher at the University of California at Davis, studying the physiology and behavior of

bird migration Bird migration is a seasonal movement of birds between breeding and wintering grounds that occurs twice a year. It is typically from north to south or from south to north. Animal migration, Migration is inherently risky, due to predation and ...

. She previously taught and performed research at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Personal

Ramenofsky was born one of four children on August 20, 1946, in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

, to Elizabeth Lantin Ramenofsky and Dr. Abraham Isadore Ramenofsky, who would act as team physician and travel with the American Swim team to the Maccabiah Games in Israel in September 1961. Marilyn's mother Elizabeth was born in Globe, Arizona, and married Abraham Ramenofsky on June 7, 1936, in Los Angeles. Both of Marilyn's parents were graduates of the University of Illinois, where her mother Elizabeth graduated in 1930. Dr. Ramenofsky attended Medical School there, interned in Chicago, and began his practice in LaSalle in 1932 where he had been born. After Dr. Ramenofsky completed Air Force Service in WWII, the family moved to Phoenix, Arizona in the 1940s where Elizabeth had family and ancestry.

Swimming career

Coaches

Marilyn swam with Phoenix's well-known Dick Smith Swim School during her early swimming career. Smith, an inductee of the Swimming Hall of Fame, served as the Olympic Coach for the Women's Diving Team in 1964. Later, she swam for the Arizona Desert Rats, an exceptional AAU Swim team that was coached by Nancy Schlueter and her husband Walt. The Schlueters would both coach Arizona collegiate swimming, and train Olympians in their careers. Marilyn noted in interviews that "her rapid rise to the international spotlight was largely due to her training...with legendary swim coach Walter Schlueter", and that "suddenly my times were dropping and I was shooting to beat the people on top."

AAU All American

She was named to 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 ...

(AAU) All-America women's swimming teams in 1962, 1963 and 1964.

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 ...

national director Buck Dawson wrote: " amenofskywas the first female to swim a perfect freestyle stroke."

1964 Olympic trial 400 meter world record

Ramenofsky set new world-record times for the 400-meter freestyle three times in 1964, including once at the U.S. Olympic Trials, reducing the record to 4:39.5 on August 31 in New York. She had just turned 18. Though Marilyn had already broken the former world record, her best time at the Astoria Pool in the finals of the Olympic Trials in August 1964 sliced five seconds off the former World Record of 4:45.5 set in 1960. She also set a new U.S. record in the 220-yard freestyle in 1964, at 2:17.3.

1964 Olympic Silver medal

She represented the United States at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

in Tokyo, Japan. She received a silver medal for her second-place performance of 4:44.6 that October in the women's 400-meter freestyle. Marilyn's 4:44.6 broke the existing Olympic record of 4:47.7, but she was edged out, finishing only a second behind American teammate Ginny Duenkel who had a time of 4:43.3. Marilyn had been the clear favorite to win the 400, as her Olympic Trial time would have taken the gold. Duenkel's winning Olympic time for the gold of 4:43:3, was nearly four seconds behind Marilyn's World Record time of 4:39.5, set two months earlier at the finals of the Olympic trials in New York on August 31.

Maccabiah Games

At the

1961 Maccabiah Games The 6th Maccabiah Games were held in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1961, with 1,100 athletes from 27 countries competing in 18 sports. The Games were officially opened in an Opening Ceremony on August 29, 1961, in Ramat Gan Stadium by Israeli president Yi ...

she won a gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle relay and a bronze in the 400-meter freestyle. At the

1965 Maccabiah Games The 7th Maccabiah Games in 1965 saw 1,500 athletes from 29 different countries compete in 21 sports. It was the first Maccabiah Games for Iran, Jamaica, Peru, and Venezuela. The United States delegation won the most gold medals, followed by Israel ...

she won gold medals in both the 200-meter and 400-meter freestyles. After attending Central High in Phoenix, and competing in the Tokyo Olympics, she attended

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists ...

in Claremont, California, and trained with the Pomona College men's swim team because the college had no women's team. She focused on more than swimming at Pomona, and wrote a thesis on algae structures that became the start of a career in zoology and academia. While swimming with the Arizona Desert Rats after her Olympic silver medal, Marilyn and three teammates set the national record for the 440-yard freestyle relay in August 1966, with a time of 4:18:07 at the Arizona Senior Invitational.

Coaching swimming

Marilyn was later involved in coaching for numerous teams at the high school and college level, even helping to lead the University of Texas to the state championships in 1971 while she was completing her master's degree in Austin.

Life after swimming

Ramenofsky, who is

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish, was inducted into the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (IJSHOF) () is the international hall of fame for Jewish athletes and special contributors to the world of sport. The purpose of the IJSHOF is to honor Jewish individuals, worldwide, who have accompli ...

in 1988. She married Dr. John C. Wingfield at South Mountain Park outside Phoenix, Arizona, in November 1979. Wingfield was a Zoologist and neurobiologist who had completed a Doctorate from the University College of North Wales in 1973. Like Marilyn, he would later perform research at the University of California Davis, and collaborate with her on some of her research. Dr. Wingfield's research at UC Davis focused on neural pathways for environmental signals relating to seasonality, mechanisms of coping with environmental stress (allostasis), and the social modulation of hormone secretion. His work has had parallels with Marilyn's own research.

Academic career

Ramenofsky received her bachelor's degree in 1969 in Botany and Biology from Pomona College, then completed her Masters of Science in 1972 in Zoology from the University of Texas at Austin. Her Doctorate in Zoology, completed in 1982, was received from the University of Washington, Seattle. She began her academic career serving as a professor at Vassar College for three years, then taught for twenty years at the University of Washington until 2008, when she began teaching and research at the University of California, Davis. She has published numerous peer-reviewed articles on the physiology and behavior of migratory birds, most notably the

white-crowned sparrow The white-crowned sparrow (''Zonotrichia leucophrys'') is a species of passerine bird native to North America. A medium-sized member of the New World sparrow family, this species is marked by a grey face and black and white streaking on the upp ...

. Much of her research has focused on how

glucocorticoids Glucocorticoids (or, less commonly, glucocorticosteroids) are a class of corticosteroids, which are a class of steroid hormones. Glucocorticoids are corticosteroids that bind to the glucocorticoid receptor that is present in almost every vertebra ...

(steroid hormones) may orchestrate the suite of life history changes associated with

. Continuing at UC Davis since 2008, she has most recently studied the migration of birds, and changes in their muscle physiology during stages of migration.

References

External links

* – Athlete profile at National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum
Image of Marilyn Ramenofsky with coach Peter Daland, California, 1964.

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections,

Charles E. Young Research Library The Charles E. Young Research Library is one of the largest libraries on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles in Westwood, Los Angeles, California. It initially opened in 1964, and a second phase of construction was completed ...

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

.
Poolside with Former Record-Holding Swimmer, Olympian and Biology Professor Marilyn Ramenofsky '69
– Article by Adam Conner-Simmons, Pomona College Website, August, 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramenofsky, Marilyn 1946 births Living people American female freestyle swimmers World record setters in swimming Jewish American swimmers Competitors at the 1961 Maccabiah Games Competitors at the 1965 Maccabiah Games Maccabiah Games gold medalists for the United States Maccabiah Games bronze medalists for the United States Maccabiah Games medalists in swimming Olympic silver medalists for the United States in swimming Pomona College alumni Sportspeople from Phoenix, Arizona Swimmers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American sportswomen Jews from Arizona International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductees