Olive McKean

Mary Olive McKean (August 10, 1915 – March 31, 2006), also known by her married name Olive Mucha, was an American competition swimmer, swimming coach, and American record holder, who represented the United States at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, winning a bronze medal in the 4x100 freestyle relay. She would later serve as a Swim coach and athletic director.

She met her future husband Chuck Mucha, who had played football at the University of Washington, at the Washington Athletic Club. Mucha had been an All-Coast guard for Washington in 1935, and had competed in swimming for the Washington swim team. The couple were married in the Seattle area around October 24, 1936. In 1936 Mucha coached Freshman football at Washington, and would later coach Physical Education and swimming for twelve years at Benson High School in Portland, Oregon, after the couple moved to Portland.

National competition

McKean won the AAU 100-meter freestyle titles in 1934 and 1935. She swam for Seattle's Washington Athletic Club between the years of 1930 to 1936. The national championship relay team McKean swam with at Washington Athletic included Doris Buckley, Mary Lou Petty and Betty Lea. With McKean swimming the anchor leg, the U.S. 4x100-meter team finished in a time of 4:40.2, four seconds behind the second place team from Germany finished behind the gold medal winning Dutch team in a close finish. Historically, the American team had most frequently won the event and had on several occasions held the world record prior to the games, but in 1936 the Dutch team had set the World Record and were the heavy favorite.

Post-competition coaching After retiring from swimming, Olive McKean Mucha and Charles Mucha moved to Portland, Oregon in 1939 where she spent a number of years primarily raising children and working as a homemaker. She served as the Women's Athletic Director at the Columbia Athletic Club and later gave lessons and coached at Portland's Multinomah Athletic Club from 1960 through 1980.

Swimming community service McKean directed swim meets for high school and the Special Olympics. At the international level, she managed the U.S. Swim Team at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. During the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, she served as the assistant manager for the U.S. swimming team. She was the first woman selected to be the president of the Oregon Amateur Athletic Union.