Wonder Woman of the Week: Aileen Riggin

This week's Wonder Woman is one of the greatest competitive swimmers of all time. Aileen Riggin began swimming from an early age while spending her early childhood in the Philippines on a US military base in the early years of the 20th Century. The young swimmer moved to New York with her family after her father's service ended. There, women were not permitted to swim in any of the diving pools, so young Aileen began diving in tidal pools around the city. She also took ballet classes to fine-tune her performance and swimming lessons from a double medal wielding Olympic champion from the 1904 games.

At only fourteen years old, Aileen Riggin became the youngest female athlete to compete in the Olympics in 1920. Riggin won the gold in the 3-meter diving event- making her the youngest medalist for Team USA (later broken by a thirteen year-old diver). It was also the first time the women's event took place, making Riggin the first gold medalist for the event in the Olympics. Riggin was also the smallest champion at 4'8" and 65 lbs- the record holder even today for Team USA's smallest Olympic champion. During the 1924 Olympics, Riggin medalled in both diving and swimming- making her the first and only USA athlete to medal in multiple sports in a single Olympic games.

Aileen Riggin married in 1924, but her husband later died in WWII. After Riggin remarried and retired from the Olympics, she continued to swim after her new family relocated to Hawaii. There, Riggin became the most recognizable female athlete in the state. Riggin also became a writer, journalist, actress, and coach. The athlete also became an advocate from women's swimming and diving- helping to get more women and girls swimming in the Hawaiian islands. Riggin would go on to be a major celebrity for Team USA too- being a flag bearer for the 1984 Olympics, and giving speeches and appearing in other games hosted in the US far into the 20th Century. Riggin was the last athlete from the 1920 Olympics to die when she died in 2002 of old age. Today, the athlete is remembered as a champion, an inspiration, and an advocate for the advancement of women and girls in her sport.