Bror Charles Norelius (March 4, 1882 – November 22, 1974) was a Swedish-American swimmer and coach. In 1903 he won all freestyle events from 200 m to one mile at the Swedish championships. He competed at the 1906 Olympics in the one mile and 4×250 m freestyle events and finished fifth in the relay. The same year, after gaining popularity as an Olympian, Norelius became a swimming coach. He was an early advocate of the modern crawl style, and argued that frequent leg kicks only exhaust the swimmer and increase the drag without adding much propulsion. Later Norelius moved to the United States and coached there until 1966, when he broke his hip in a bad fall. His most famous trainees include

Arne Borg Claes Arne Borg (18 August 1901 – 7 November 1987) was a Swedish swimmer. He is best known for breaking 32 world records and winning five Olympic medals in the 1920s. In 1926 Borg won the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal, shared with Edvin W ...

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Barbara Hutton Barbara Woolworth Hutton (November 14, 1912 – May 11, 1979) was an American debutante, socialite, heiress, and philanthropist. She was dubbed the "Poor Little Rich Girl"—first when she was given a lavish and expensive debutante ball in 1930 a ...

Grace Moore Mary Willie Grace Moore (December 5, 1898January 26, 1947) was an American operatic soprano and actress in musical theatre and film.Obituary ''Variety'', January 29, 1947, page 48. She was nicknamed the "Tennessee Nightingale." Her films helped ...

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, and his daughter, triple Olympic champion

Martha Norelius Martha Maria Norelius (January 22, 1909 – September 25, 1955) was a Swedish-born American competition swimmer, Olympic gold medalist, and former world record-holder in five different freestyle swimming events. Biography Norelius was born in S ...

. He also taught swimming to his other three children. During World War II, Norelius was responsible for rehabilitation exercises in water at the Ashford General Hospital in White Sulphur Springs. He died in Florida, aged 92.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norelius, Charles 1882 births 1974 deaths Swedish male freestyle swimmers Olympic swimmers of Sweden Swimmers at the 1906 Intercalated Games Stockholms KK swimmers Swimmers from Stockholm Swedish emigrants to the United States