Marjorie Gestring (November 18, 1922 – April 20, 1992) was a competitive springboard diver from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. At the age of 13 years and 268 days, she won the gold medal in 3-meter springboard diving at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, making her at the time the youngest person ever to win an Olympic gold medal. She remains the second-youngest Olympic gold medalist, as of . A multi-time national diving champion in the United States, she was given a second Olympic gold medal by the United States Olympic Committee after the

1940 Summer Olympics The 1940 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XII Olympiad, was a planned international multi-sport event scheduled to have been held from 21 September to 6 October 1940, in Tokyo City, Japan, and later rescheduled for 20 July t ...

were called off due to the advent of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Gestring attempted to return to the Olympics at the 1948 Games, but failed to qualify for the US team. She has been 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 ...

and the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame.

Diving career

Gestring won her first major title at 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 ...

meeting at Chicago in 1936. In the tryouts for the

for the United States team, she placed second behind

Katherine Rawls Katherine Louise Rawls (June 14, 1917 – April 8, 1982), also known by her married names Katherine Thompson and Katherine Green, was an American competition swimmer and Diving (sport), diver. She was the United States national champion in multi ...

in qualifying in the 3-meter springboard event. Gestring became the youngest person ever to win an Olympic gold medal at the age of 13 years and 268 days, in what was considered to be an upset, given her competition. Her final dive won her the competition, and her rival Rawls, who had already recognised that the dive had given the gold medal to Gestring instead of her, greeted Gestring as she left the pool. The winning score was 89.27, while Rawls' score was 88.35. Gestring was part of an all-American top three in the final round, with Rawls winning silver and

Dorothy Poynton-Hill Dorothy Poynton-Hill (née ''Poynton'', later ''Teuber''; July 17, 1915 – May 18, 1995) was an American diver who competed at the 1928, 1932 and 1936 Summer Olympics. She won the 10 m platform event in 1932 and 1936, while in the 3 m springbo ...

winning bronze. Rawls and Gestring were described as being in a "duel" for the gold medal, in front of 15,000 spectators. Following her Olympic victory, Gestring competed in national championships in the run-up to the next Games. She won the US national title for 3-meter springboard in both 1938 and 1939. She also won the regional Far Western and Arizona State swimming championships in 1937. Despite the cancellation of the

due to the advent of

, Gestring continued to compete at the national level within the United States. She was US National Women's High Diving Champion for 1939, and retained the title in 1940. She also retained the title for the 3-meter springboard that same year. A fellow diver of the same era,

Margaret Ambrosia Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Old Iranian. It has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular throughout the Middle Ages. It became le ...

, stated that she would have expected Gestring to win the gold medal once more had the 1940 Olympic Games been held as planned. The United States Olympic Committee evidently agreed when they handed out gold, silver and bronze medals in lieu of the Games taking place, giving as they did the gold medal to Gestring. She attempted to make the US team once more in the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

, but did not qualify, finishing in fourth place in the team trials.

Marriage

In 1943, at the age of 19, Gestring married Edward Harrison Carter, then a student at

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

Later life and legacy

Gestring died on April 20, 1992, after an accident in her home in

Hillsborough, California Hillsborough is an List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is located south of San Francisco on the San Francisco Peninsula, bordered by Burlinga ...

. She was 69. She was inducted into the

in 1976, and the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame. ''

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 ...

'' listed Gestring when deciding California's Best Women Athlete, though it eventually named the tennis player

Billie Jean King Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943), also known as BJK, is an American former World number 1 ranked female tennis players, world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam titles: 12 in singles, 16 in w ...

. Gestring's age record at the Olympics was broken by Kim Yun-mi at the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, were an international winter multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Hav ...

Notes

References

External links