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Sylvia Ruuska

Personal information
Full name	Sylvia Eliina Ruuska
National team	United States
Born	(1942-07-04)July 4, 1942 Berkeley, California
Died	February 7, 2019(2019-02-07) (aged 76)
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Weight	139 lb (63 kg)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle, individual medley
Club	Berkeley YMCA
Medal record Women's swimming Representing the United States Olympic Games 1956 Melbourne 4x100 m freestyle 1956 Melbourne 400 m freestyle Pan American Games 1959 Chicago 400 m freestyle

Sylvia Eliina Ruuska (July 4, 1942 – February 7, 2019) was an American former competition swimmer, Olympic medalist and former world record-holder in two events.

At the age of 14, Ruuska won two medals at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. She captured a silver medal by swimming for the second-place U.S. team in the women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay. Individually, she also received a bronze medal for her third-place finish in the women's 400-meter freestyle.

On June 27, 1958, she became the first woman to set an official world record in the 400-meter individual medley, clocking 5:46.6. Ruuska subsequently broke her own 400-meter record three times in 1958 and 1959, ultimately lowering the world mark to 5:40.2 on July 17, 1959. She also set a new world record of 2:43.2 in the 200-meter individual medley on August 16, 1958, and breaking her own record with a time of 2:40.3 on January 14, 1959. Both her 200-meter and 400-meter individual medley world records were later broken by Donna de Varona. At the 1959 Pan American Games in Chicago, she won a silver medal for her second-place showing in the 400-meter freestyle (5:03.4), finishing behind fellow American Chris von Saltza (4:55.9).

At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy, Ruuska swam for the gold medal-winning U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay. Under the international swimming rules in effect in 1960, she did not receive a medal because she did not swim in the event final.

Ruuska was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1976.

See also

• List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)
• List of Stanford University people
• World record progression 200 metres individual medley
• World record progression 400 metres individual medley

References

1. ^ Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes, Sylvia Ruuska. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
2. International Swimming Hall of Fame, Honorees, Sylvia Ruuska (USA) Archived 2007-10-28 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 10, 2012.

External links

• Sylvia Ruuska at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• Sylvia Ruuska (USA) – Honor Swimmer profile at International Swimming Hall of Fame

v t e 1956 USA Olympic swimming team
Men's Team	George Breen Dick Hanley Robert Hughes Tim Jecko Ford Konno Frank McKinney Jack Nelson George Onekea Yoshi Oyakawa Reid Patterson David Radcliff Sonny Tanabe Albert Wiggins Bill Woolsey William Yorzyk
Women's Team	Betty Brey Carin Cone Susan Gray Kay Knapp Shelley Mann Mary Anne Marchino Maureen Murphy Nancy Ramey Joan Rosazza Sylvia Ruuska Mary Sears Marley Shriver Nancy Simons

v t e 1960 USA Olympic swimming team
Men's team	Bob Bennett Dick Blick George Breen Steve Clark Bill Darnton Jeff Farrell Dave Gillanders Paul Hait George Harrison Bruce Hunter Lance Larson Gene Lenz Frank McKinney Bill Mulliken Alan Somers Mike Troy Thomas Winters
Women's team	Molly Botkin Lynn Burke Donna de Varona Susan Doerr Nina Harmer Carolyn House Patty Kempner Sylvia Ruuska Carolyn Schuler Joan Spillane Shirley Stobs Chris von Saltza Anne Warner Carolyn Wood

• 1942 births
• 2019 deaths
• American female freestyle swimmers
• American female medley swimmers
• American people of Finnish descent
• World record setters in swimming
• Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in swimming
• Swimmers from Berkeley, California
• Stanford University alumni
• Swimmers at the 1956 Summer Olympics
• Swimmers at the 1960 Summer Olympics
• Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics
• 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 silver medalists for the United States in swimming
• 20th-century American sportswomen