Margarete Adler

Biography Early life and swimming Adler was born February 13, 1896, in Viena, Austria to Maria Eleonore Adele Müller Adler and Gustav Adler (1869–1958). Her father Gustav was a police doctor, educational reformer, and sports official. Adler began swimming around the age of seven in Vienna's Margaretenbad, a local public bath. By the age of nine, she won her first swimming competition, and in December 1907, first competed in platform diving, and Junior gymnastics. By the age of eleven, she had begun to use the modern Australian crawl. She soon began winning breaststroke and backstroke events. Prior to WWI, she gained recognition as one of the leading swimmers in Austria, with Klara Milch, Berta Zahourek, Johanna, and Josefine Kellner and Josephine Sticker.

Austria's 1912 women's Olympic swim team was trained by attorney and former swimmer Otto Scheff, a 1907 World Champion, and holder of a bronze medal in the 1908 London Olympics. As she progressed, Adler trained with the Wiener Damen-Schwimmklub founded in 1894, also known as Schwimmvereinigung "Austria". becoming the first Austrian woman to win an Olympic medal together with her teammates Klara Milch, Josephine Sticker and Berta Zahourek. Adler swam the leadoff leg of the relay. Both Sticker and Milch were also considered by a few sources to be of the Jewish faith. The team from Great Britain took the gold medal with a combined time of 5:52.8, and the German team took the Silver with a combined time of 6:04.6. The success of the Austrian women's team greatly increased the number of Austrian women participating in the sport of swimming and competitive swimming.

Post WWI swimming At the 1915 War Championships, the largest meet subsequent to WWI, Adler captured three championships in one day, winning both the 100 and 300 meter freestyle events, as well as a gymnastics competition. In 1915, she also secured the national diving title, and in 1916 once again won the national championship in the 300-meter freestyle. In June 1918, she won the women's 200 m primary swim in 3:28 in Dianabad, also taking first in the 300-meter breaststroke with a time of 5:40.4.

1924 Paris Olympics At the 1924 Olympics in Paris she competed in the 10 metre platform diving event, finishing fourth in her heat. In 1924, the event was called plain high diving, but was basically a platform diving competition, held on both the 5-metre and 10-metre platforms. The event required four dives in each round by each competitor, with two compulsory dives and two optional. After 1928, the event would be named platform diving. Adler placed fourth in Round 2, but was required to place in the top three, to qualify for the final, and ending her Olympic career.