By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
Canadian Olympic medalist and former World Record holder Nancy Garapick has died. She was 64.
A cause of death has not been released, but Swimming Canada says she died peacefully at home in Langley, B.C. on Monday.
As a young swimmer, Garapick was an early star for Canada growing up training with the Halifax Trojan Aquatic Club away fromv the country’s traditional swimming hubs. On April 27, 1975, at the Eastern Canadian Swimming Championships in Brantford, Ontario, she set a World Record in the 200 backstroke at juts 13 years old. Her time of 2:16.33 stood for just over a month before East Germany’s Birgit Treiber broke it.
That same year, she won the 200 yard backstroke at the AAU National Championships, then one of the primary U.S. National Championship meet. She also won silver in the 200 back and bronze in the 100 back at the inaugural World Championships in 1975.
For her efforts, she was named the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award winner as Canada’s top female athlete. She was the youngest woman to ever win that award.
At the Montreal 1976 Olympics, she became one of Canada’s youngest-ever female Olympian at just 14 years old. She would win bronze medals in both the 100 and 200 backstrokes at those Games.
She later won a relay bronze at the 1978 Olympics, five medals at the 1979 Pan American Games, and she was selected to the 1980 Olympic team before Canada boycotted the Games.
She swam collegiately in the United States at USC and retired from competition in 1983 with 17 national titles.
In 2008, she was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.
After her swimming career, she worked as a teacher in the remote Yukon.
Memories of Garapick poured out on social media both from her peers and from swimming fans.
Pamela Rai, a 1984 Canadian Olympic swimmer who won a bronze medal on the 400 medley relay, called Garapick “one of her biggest heroes…”
“One of my biggest heroes, an inspiration, friend and teammate Nancy Garapick has passed away. I was actually in Langley on the day she passed and had no idea she lived there. I was there many, many times over the years visiting family. Such sorrow. I had tried to find her over the years to connect but was unsuccessful finding her. She was the most amazing person – bubbly, friendly, compassionate. We had a bond and she mentored me on the Canadian National Swim Team. She was so young when she made national team 1975 and she took me under her wing knowing I too was just like her – only 14 when I made national team in 1980. Google her… her performance in the 1976 Olympics was phenomenal against East German women who were taking steroids. At age 15, she should have been recognized as a double gold medallist in the 100 and 200 meter backstroke at the 1976 Olympics as the east Germans cheated. She deserved the recognition she never got for her success. She became a teacher and she disappeared from the limelight and pressure from her youth. I so related. I have the deepest regret I could not reconnect with her after all these years and know her post swimming life. I heard she was in the lower mainland somewhere. I am deeply saddened. I resonated with her soul. Rest in peace my mentor, teammate and supportive friend. This is a tough one to absorb. I never had the chance to thank her for her inspiration and support. Thank you Nancy.”
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Nancy Garapick, Who Set a World Record at 13,
Hence then, the article about nancy garapick who set a world record at 13 was published today ( ) and is available on swimswam ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Nancy Garapick, Who Set a World Record at 13, )
Also on site :