Hedwig "Hedy" Bienenfeld, also known after marriage as Hedy Wertheimer (17 October 1907 – 24 September 1976) was an Austrian Olympic swimmer. She won a bronze medal in the 200m breaststroke at the

1927 European Aquatics Championships The 1927 LEN European Aquatics Championships were held from 31 August to 4 September in Bologna, Italy. Women's events were held for the first time. Medal table Overall Swimming Medal summary Diving ;Men's events ;Women's events Swimming ...

. She competed in the same discipline at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics ( nl, Olympische Zomerspelen 1928), officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad ( nl, Spelen van de IXe Olympiade) and commonly known as Amsterdam 1928, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from ...

. At the

1932 Maccabiah Games The 1st Maccabiah (aka The Maccabiah and the White Horse Olympics) ( he, המכביה הראשונה or he, המכביאדה) was the first edition of the Maccabiah, which was held in Mandatory Palestine from March 28 to April 2, 1932. The games ...

and

1935 Maccabiah Games The 2nd Maccabiah ( he, המכביה השנייה), aka the Aliyah Olympics, which was held in April 1935, was the second edition of the Maccabiah Games. The Games were held despite official opposition by the British Mandatory government. A total ...

in Mandatory Palestine, she won a combined five gold medals, one silver medal, and one bronze medal in swimming.

Biography

Swimming career

Bienenfeld was Jewish, and competed for the Jewish sports club Hakoah Vienna, which had been founded in 1909 in response to the " Aryan clause" that banned Jews from joining other sports clubs. In 1924, at 15 years of age, Bienenfeld won the annual Austrian five-mile open-water swimming competition ''Quer durch Wien'' (Across Vienna) on the Danube that gathered about 500,000 spectators. In 1925, she was second, after Löwy who swam freestyle. Subsequently, she became a popular swimsuit model for Austrian magazines. She won nearly every Austrian national breaststroke title in the 1920s–1930s. Bienenfeld won a bronze medal in the 200 m breaststroke at the

in Italy, at 19 years of age. Until the 2000s, Bienenfeld remained the only Austrian to win a swimming medal, together with Fritzi Löwy, who finished third in the 400 m freestyle at the same 1927 European Aquatics Championships. She competed in the women's 200 m breaststroke at the

at 20 years of age, and came in 13th. On 28 April 1929, Bienenfeld established the world 500m breaststroke record, at nine minutes. She was the inspiration for the character "Lisa" in the novel ''The Pupil Gerber'' (''Der Schüler Gerber'') by Friedrich Torberg, which was published the following year. In 1930, she married her swimming coach, Zsigo Wertheimer (1897–1965). In 1937, she set a new Austrian 100m breaststroke record. At the

in Mandatory Palestine she won gold medals in the 100m backstroke, 200m breaststroke, and 4x100 m freestyle, a silver medal in the 100m freestyle (as Löwy won the gold medal), and the bronze medal in the 300m freestyle.Ron Kaplan (2015)
''The Jewish Olympics; The History of the Maccabiah Games''
/ref> At the

in Mandatory Palestine she won gold medals in the 200m breaststroke and 4x100m freestyle.

Later life

Being Jewish, she and her husband fled Austria after its 1938 annexation by Nazi Germany before World War II, known as the '' Anschluss'', and moved first to Great Britain landing at

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

on 8 December 1939, and on 18 July 1940 were interned in Rushen Internment Camp on the Isle of Man. They then moved to London on 31 December 1940, and then to the United States. There, they worked as swimming instructors in New York, and then ran a successful real estate business in Florida. In 1952, they became American citizens. After the death of her husband in 1965, she returned to Vienna. There she helped financially her lifelong rival and then close friend Löwy, who was fighting breast cancer. Bienenfeld did not have any children. Upon her death, she was buried in the Jewish section of Vienna Central Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bienenfeld, Hedy 1907 births 1976 deaths 20th-century Austrian Jews 20th-century American Jews Austrian female freestyle swimmers Austrian female breaststroke swimmers Austrian female models Burials at the Vienna Central Cemetery Competitors at the 1932 Maccabiah Games Competitors at the 1935 Maccabiah Games Jewish American sportspeople Jewish Austrian sportspeople Jewish emigrants from Austria to the United States after the Anschluss Jewish female models Jewish swimmers Jews and Judaism in Vienna European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Maccabiah Games gold medalists for Austria Maccabiah Games competitors for Austria Maccabiah Games silver medalists for Austria Maccabiah Games medalists in swimming Models from Vienna Olympic swimmers of Austria People interned in the Isle of Man during World War II SC Hakoah Wien Swimmers at the 1928 Summer Olympics Swimmers from Vienna

Biography

Swimming career

Later life

See also

References