Ellie Daniel

Eleanor Suzanne Daniel (born June 11, 1950), is an American former competition swimmer, four-time Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder.

Early age group swimming

In her earlier years, Daniel trained with Hall of Fame Coach Mary Freeman Kelly at the Vesper Boat Club team in Philadelphia. She started on the "B" team, swimming at the aquarium, underneath the art museum. The following year, she made the "A" team, which practiced at the University of Pennsylvania's Weightman Hall pool.

Later, when her family moved to California around 1967, she swam with Hall of Fame Coach Sherm Chavoor at Arden Hills Swim Club in Sacramento. In her second year of competition, she came in eighth in the 1,500-meter freestyle at the AAU national championships. She received a gold medal by swimming the butterfly leg for the winning U.S. team in the women's 4×100-meter medley relay, together with teammates Kaye Hall (backstroke), Catie Ball (breaststroke), and Sue Pedersen (freestyle), a teammate from Arden Hills. The American women set a new Olympic record of 4:28.3, defeating the Australians (4:30.0) and West Germans (4:36.4).

Swimming administration She was an executive member of the U.S. Olympic Committee, and the U.S. Olympic Committee's Athletes Advisory Council. She was a member of the Speakers' Bureau for the Olympic Organizing Committee before the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games. She is also a member of the University of Pennsylvania Athletic Hall of Fame.