A Past Champion Remembered
As the winding down of Olympic fervor is among us, it’s appropriate to reflect upon the recent passing of an outstanding, barrier breaking female swimmer, Ann Curtis, who found Olympic glory in London’s 1948 games. Her accomplishments included five world and 56 American records as she dominated nearly every distance of freestyle, her best event, competing in anything from the 100 yards to the 1500M. At the time women were allowed to compete in three of the five Olympic swimming events and she received gold in each of her three, the 100M freestyle, 4X200 freestyle relays and the 400M. See carried a congenial humorous personality that helped to offer her a spot in acting performances as a swimmer with MGM. Deciding however to decline the offer, she didn’t want to "play second fiddle" to the premier swimming actress in Hollywood at the time, Ester Williams. Taking the rigorous training techniques and habits she’d amassed during her decades in the sport, her husband and she opened an instructional clinic in San Rafael in 1960. Still it exists and is managed by one of her four children and had served as a training location for such Olympic greats as Rick Demont and Ben Wildman Tobriner. Her 86 years as someone marking a championship existence is influential to the recognizable talent capturing spotlight in this year’s London games such as Missy Franklin, Allison Schmidt, Katie Hoff and others. All the respect to former and current US Olympic athletes! 
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