Stouder, Sharon M.
Swimming
b. Nov. 9, 1948, Altadena, CA
Stouder began swimming when she was three and entered competition when she was eight. At 14, she won a gold medal as a member of the 4 by 100-meter medley relay team at the 1963 Pan-American Games.
She had a sensational year in 1964, winning the AAU outdoor 100-meter free style, 100-meter butterfly, and 200-meter butterfly, as well as the indoor 100-yard freestyle championship. Stouder set a world record in the 200-meter butterfly.
At the 1964 Olympics, Stouder won three gold medals and one silver. She took the 100-meter butterfly in a world record 1:04.7 and swam on the winning 4 by 100-meter freestyle and 4 by 100-meter medley relay teams. Dawn Fraser beat her in the 100-meter freestyle, swimming a 59.5 to became the first woman to break the 1-minute mark in the event. Stouder was second in 59.9 seconds.
After winning the national indoor 100-yard butterfly for a second time in 1965, Stouder was troubled by a series of injuries that forced her early retirement.