Sandra Nitta

1964 Tokyo Olympics Olympic Trials In the late August 1964 Olympic Trials in New York, Sandy placed third in the 200-meter breaststroke, behind Tammy Hazleton, and first place Claudia Kolb of Santa Clara, whose time was only a half second behind the listed American record.

Tokyo Olympics Flying to Tokyo with the team, Nitta swam in the qualifying heats of the women's 200-meter breaststroke at the 1964 Olympics and posted a time of 2:48.4, which was the 18th fastest time, and did not make the cut for the final round of eight.

Education Sandy attended and graduated Cal State Los Angeles University, but also attended Pasadena and East Los Angeles Colleges. She led the team to National prominence, and having gained recognition, she began national coaching as the first Woman's USA Water Polo Junior National Head Coach in 1979.

During her tenure, Sandy faced challenges due to limited corporate and government funding. Through 1994, Women's Water Polo was not an Olympic Sport and members of the team had to pay their own way for international travel. Outstanding distance swimmer and author Lynne Cox served as the U.S. Women's team's manager, attempting to raise corporate funds. In 1984, the team was pushing to gain recognition by the IOC as an Olympic participant. During Nitta's tenure as head coach through 1994, the National Women's Water Polo team had not gained access to the Olympics as a participant, but gained admission in 2000, and have since received the gold medal in the 2012, 2016, and 2020 Olympics.

Other Water Polo teams coached She coached Team Vegas/Henderson from 1994 to 1999 and 2004–14. In shorter assignments, she was the Wilson High School JV Coach from 1979 to 1980, the Queensland, Australia State Team Coach from 1981 to 1982, and was Head Coach at Rio Hondo College from 1990 to 1991.

Her international coaching experience in Water Polo included the Brazilian Women's team. Sandy coached in the first Pan Am Water Polo Game for Women, and coached the Brazilian Team to their first win ever over the United States Team. She coached the Tualatain Water Polo Club in Oregon, and later coached a Masters team to the 2006 Women's Masters World Championships.

In 2017, she returned to coaching at Team Vegas/Henderson Water Polo, a Junior Olympic Program, and would serve as a Director of the program. Sandy served on the FINA sub-committee which successfully promoted women's water polo on the global stage, and helped make rule changes for the women's sport which included a smaller ball, and a shorter course.

Water Polo honors She was inducted into the American Water Polo Hall of Fame in 1998 and in 2012 received a Paragon Award for her work in American Water Polo.