This morning we were lucky to have a special visit from Lindsay's grandmother, Olympic swimmer Carin (Cone) Vanderbush. She just happened to be in town as we launched into our study of the first Olympics. She shared wonderful stories about her swimming career, and we were struck by the fact that she competed in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics when she was just 16 years old. She didn't even start swimming until she was 10, so there is still time for the children to cultivate Olympic dreams! Of her many accomplishments, we were inspired by her tied win in the 100 M backstroke, to which judges ultimately awarded her the silver. We couldn't believe that she has about 900 swimming medals from her career- wow! She also shared interesting details about running with the torch in the Olympic parade. We were inspired by her encouragement to work hard to achieve our dreams.
However, the students observed that she wouldn't have been able to compete in the Greek Olympics- not only was swimming not an event, women couldn't compete!
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| Explaining that her parents encouraged her to try a range of activities besides reading, including ballet...and swimming |
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| One of two Sports Illustrated covers |
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| Butterfly- notice that swimmers didn't wear goggles, but did wear cork to prevent glare |
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