Ágústa Þorsteinsdóttir (17 April 1942 – 21 August 2008) was an Icelandic

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

. She competed in the

women's 100 metre freestyle A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

, where she was eliminated in the heats. Ágústa was born in Reykjavík to Þorsteins Kristjánssonar and Sigríðar Finnbogadóttur. She started swimming when she was 14 years old and within a year she had set 11 Icelandic national records. When Ágústa was 18 years old, she represented Iceland at the

in Rome, Italy, competing in the

100 metre freestyle The 100 metre freestyle is often considered to be the highlight (Blue Ribbon event) of the sport of swimming, like 100 metres in the sport of Athletics. The first swimmer to break the one-minute barrier (long course) was Johnny Weissmuller, in 1 ...

. In her first round heat, Ágústa was up against Dawn Fraser, the eventual gold medallist. She finished her heat in sixth place in a time of 1:07.5, putting her in 22nd place overall so she did not qualify for the next round. In her swimming career she broke 52 national records and was nominated sportswoman of the year four times. She also had a talent in

Handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

and played for KR. In 1988, Ágústa took up the sport of ten-pin bowling and competed with the KRF Afturgöngunum team. Her team became Icelandic champions 11 times and individually she became Icelandic champion in 1992, 1995 and 1996. She was still competing in spring 2008. Ágústa died in August 2008, leaving her husband and two adult children.

References

External links

* 1942 births 2008 deaths Agusta Thorsteinsdottir Swimmers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Agusta Thorsteinsdottir Icelandic female freestyle swimmers 20th-century Icelandic sportswomen {{Iceland-swimming-bio-stub