Catie Ball

Catharine Ball Condon (born September 30, 1951), née Catharine Northcutt Ball, is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in three events. At the 1968 Summer Olympics, she won a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. 4×100-meter medley relay team. Ball is a former world record holder in the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke events, and is remembered as a teenage star who was the dominant female breaststroke swimmer of her generation.

Early years

Ball was born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1951. As a teenager, she swam for the J.E.T.S. swim team in Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) competition, the Florida Yacht Club, and attended Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville.

In August 1966, she set a new American record of 2:44.8 in the 200-meter breaststroke at the AAU national championships, shattering the previous mark by almost three seconds. In December 1966, she tied the world record of 1:15.7 in the 100-meter breaststroke at the international swim meet at the Hall of Fame pool in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

While swimming for the Lee High School Generals swim team, she won the 1967 Florida 2A state high school championships in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard breaststroke events, setting Florida state records in both. Her Florida record in the 100-yard breaststroke stood for eleven years. At the 1967 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Ball won two individual gold medals in the women's 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke events, and a third in the women's 4×100-meter medley relay in which she swam the breaststroke leg for the winning U.S. team of Kendis Moore, Ball, Ellie Daniel and Wendy Fordyce. In the process, she set new world records in all three events.

1968 Mexico City Olympics

Ball was the reigning world record holder in all four breaststroke distances and bettered her own world records in the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke at the U.S. Olympic Trials in August 1968.

Despite having to overcome mononucleosis and missing several scheduled meets in early 1968, Ball was the favorite to win three gold medals at the 1968 Olympics. She arrived at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, however, with a case of influenza. alongside Kaye Hall (backstroke), Ellie Daniel (butterfly) and Susan Pedersen (freestyle). In the 100-meter breaststroke final, Ball led close to the finish but physical exhaustion overwhelmed her, She was too ill to swim in the subsequent preliminary heats of the 200-meter breaststroke and was scratched from the event. but effectively dropped out of competition swimming because there were no women's college swim teams at the time and because of her desire to lead a more "normal" life.

Life after swimming

Ball currently resides in Pensacola, Florida. Ball and her business partner have operated a successful interior decorating business, "Beside the Point," for the past decade. and the Florida Sports Hall of Fame in 2010. 1:14.20 August 25, 1968 United States Olympic Trials Los Angeles, California

Note: All record times and locations are sourced to USA Swimming's list of world records.