Riggin, Aileen M.
Diving, Swimming
b. May 2, 1906, Newport, RI
d. Oct. 17, 2002
The first person ever to win Olympic medals in both swimming and diving, the 4-foot-8, 70-pound Riggin was naturally nicknamed "Tiny." At fourteen, she won a gold medal in 1920 in the first women's Olympic springboard event ever held. Four years later, she won a silver medal in the springboard and a bronze in the 100-meter backstroke.
Riggin was the national outdoor 3-meter springboard champion from 1923 through 1925. She won the indoor 1-meter title in 1923. As a member of the Women's Swimming Association of New York, she swam on teams that won the national outdoor 880-meter freestyle relay in 1923 and 1924 and the indoor 400-yard relay in 1922, 1923, and 1925.
The first slow-motion and underwater coaching films ever made, in 1922, starred Riggin. She became a professional in 1926 gave exhibitions, performed at the Hippodrome in New York, wrote articles, appeared in two Hollywood musicals, and helped organize Billy Rose's first aquacade in 1937.