Madison, Helene E.
Swimming
b. June 19, 1913, Madison, WI
d. Nov. 27, 1970
Madison was virtually unbeatable at any distance in freestyle swimming during her brief career. Nicknamed the "Queen of the Waters" by sportswriters, she won every AAU national freestyle championship in 1930, her first year of senior competition: The outdoor 100-meter, 440-yard, 880-yard, and 1-mile, and the indoor 100- and 220-yard events.
She was named female athlete of the year by the Associated Press in 1931, when she repeated that feat and set three world records in the span of less than two weeks. Madison didn't compete in the 1932 AAU outdoor meet, but she again won both indoor freestyle titles.
At the 1932 Olympics, Madison won three gold medals. After an easy victory in the 100-meter freestyle, she had a close duel with teammate Lenore Kight in the 400-meter event. Kight took the lead with about seventy-five meters to go, but Madison just caught her at the finish, winning in a world record 5:28.5 to Kight's 5:28.6. The bronze medalist was nearly twenty seconds behind. Madison won her third gold as a member of the 4 by 100-meter relay team, which also set a world record.
During her three years of top competition, the 5-foot-10½, 154-pound Madison set world records at twenty distances from 100 yards to 1-mile. She appeared in an unsuccessful 1933 movie, "The Warrior's Husband," then embarked on an unsuccessful career as a nightclub singer. She later taught swimming and clerked in a department store. Married and divorced three times, she died of cancer.