 Sharon Stouder in 1965 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Sharon Marie Stouder | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National team | United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | November 9, 1948 Altadena, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | June 23, 2013 (aged 64) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 134 lb (61 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Freestyle, butterfly | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Commerce Swim Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| College team | [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coach | Don Gambril Commerce Swim Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Sharon Marie Stouder (November 9, 1948 – June 23, 2013), also known by her married name Sharon Stouder Clark, was an American competition swimmer, three-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in four events.[2]
At only three, Sharon started swimming and began competition by eight, taking two firsts and setting age-group records in her first meet. She held 20 firsts in national age-group events, and took six National Junior Olympic age group ratings.[3]
Stouder attended Glendora High School, and swam for Hall of Fame coach Don Gambril's highly competitive and nationally ranked City of Commerce Swim Club near Southeast Los Angeles. Earlier, Sharon swam with Gambril's Rosemead swim club which later merged with City of Commerce.[1][4][5]
As a 15-year-old, she won three gold medals and one silver at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.[3] She won the women's 100-meter butterfly, and was a member of the winning U.S. teams in the women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay and the women's 4×100-meter medley relay.[3] She also took second place in the women's 100-meter freestyle, finishing behind Australian Dawn Fraser, for a total of four medals.[3]
Stouder swam sprint butterfly and sprint freestyle. She was the second woman in history to go under the one-minute barrier in the 100-meter freestyle, the event she got her silver medal in at the 1964 Olympics. In 1964 she twice broke the world record in the women's 200-meter butterfly and set a record in the women's 100 meter butterfly as well.[1][6]
In international competition, Stouder took a gold medal at the 1963 São Paulo Pan Am games in both the 4x100 freestyle and medley relays.[1]
She attended Stanford University in Palo Alto, graduating in 1970 though Stanford had no women's swim team at the time, and her competitive swimming career virtually ended after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. She was inducted into the Stanford Hall of Fame in 1997.[1] Stouder did graduate work at the University of California Santa Barbara, and worked coaching swimming.[7] She lit the Olympic Torch at the 1984 games, raised a family and owned a women's clothing store. She lived most of her adult life in the California Bay area.[8]
She was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1972.[7] She was the California State Athlete of the year in 1963-64.[9] Stouder died June 23, 2013; she was 64 years old.[10]
