Sybil Bauer

Career Illinois Athletic Club Beginning in her mid to late teens, Bauer competed and trained with the outstanding program at the Illinois Athletic Club (IAC) under Hall of Fame Coach William Bachrach. Among the outstanding swimmers with whom she trained at the IAC were Olympic champion Johnny Weissmuller and two-time 1924 Olympic freestyle gold medalist Ethel Lackie with whom she competed frequently. With complimentary skills in freestyle and backstroke, Lackie and Bauer dominated many national meets in the 1920s. At AAU competition in Chicago in 1922, while swimming for the (IAC), Bauer set backstroke records in the 100-yard open water event of 1:16 on August 27, and swam the 100-meter backstroke in 1:16.4 in indoor competition in a 25-meter pool on April 7. In the 150-yard event she swam another 1922 record of 2:06.2 on November 21.

During a 1922 meet in Bermuda, she became the first woman to break a men's record, finishing the 440-yard backstroke in a time of 6:24.4 (about four seconds ahead of the old mark). However, that record was unofficial, since it took place at an unsanctioned contest.

Bauer represented the United States at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris in mid-July, the first Olympics to include a women's backstroke event. As a heavy favorite, Bauer won the gold medal in the women's 100-meter backstroke. In the finals, she finished with a time of 1:23.2, another world record, and four seconds ahead of silver medalist Phyllis Harding.

At the end of Olympic competition, she attended competitions in Brussels, Belgium and England and took a family visit to Norway, her ancestral home. While at Northwestern, she served on the student council, was president and active in the Women's Athletic Association, and in addition to swimming, participated in basketball and field hockey. She also participated with teams in baseball and golf. Prior to and during her time at Northwestern from 1921 to 1926, she set 23 world records in women's swimming, mostly in backstroke events. Services were held at Chicago's First Lutheran Church, and her funeral was well attended by members of her sorority Gamma Phi Beta. Pall Bearers included several local swimmers including Johnny Weissmuller and Bob Skelton (swimmer).

Honors She was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in 1967, and the Northwestern University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1984. Northwestern authorized a memorial tablet to honor her in February, 1927. The memorial was a bronze plaque on a wood background with an image of her in her Northwestern swimming suit, with an "N" emblazoned on the front, with the words "Daughters of Neptune", an organization of which she was a member, beneath.