 Kolb in 1970 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Claudia Anne Kolb | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National team | United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | December 19, 1949 Hayward, California | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 134 lb (61 kg) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Breaststroke, individual medley | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Santa Clara Swim Club | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coach | George Haines | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Claudia Anne Kolb (born December 19, 1949), also known by her married name Claudia Thomas, is an American former competition swimmer, swim coach, two-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in four events.
Born in Haywood, California, Kolb was a graduate of Santa Clara High school and trained with the Santa Clara Swim Club from the age of ten until the end of her Olympic career.[1]
Kolb represented the United States as a 14-year-old at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. She competed in the women's 200-meter breaststroke, and received the silver medal for her second-place performance (2:47.6) behind Soviet Galina Prozumenshchikova, who set a new Olympic record (2:46.4).[2][3] She became the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in the breaststroke.[1]
When Mexico City hosted the 1968 Summer Olympics, Kolb won two gold medals. She dominated her competition in the medley events, winning both the women's 200-meter individual medley (2:24.7) and women's 400-meter individual medley (5:08.5). Kolb set new Olympic records in both events in the preliminary heats and the event finals.[2]
During her career. Kolb won 25 U.S. national AAU Championships and set 23 world records. In 1967 she was named "World Swimmer of the Year" by Swimming World magazine. In 1975 she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.[4] In 1999, she was inducted into the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame.[1]
Kolb retired from competitive swimming after the Mexico City Olympics. She has coached swimming at clubs in South Bend, Indiana and Santa Clara, California, and college teams at Stanford University and at Pacific University. Her Stanford swimmers won the 1980 AIAW national team championship. She coached Stanford from 1979-1980, attaining a 7-1 winning record before leaving the team to spend more time with her family.[5] In 2003, she was announced as the head coach of Pacific University's women's swimming program by athletic director Judy Sherman.[6]
She lives in Oregon.
