Nancie Rideout Robertson (12 May 1938 – 21 January 1996) was an American professional

water ski Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on two skis or one ski. The sport requires suffi ...

er. During her competitive career, Rideout won the inaugural Masters and two

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in jump.

Biography

Rideout, born in Jackson, Michigan, moved to Orlando, Florida at the age of 4. She started skiing after her father bought an outboard boat which came with a pair of water skis. Rideout's talents were noticed by Tommy Barlett, who added her as part of his traveling water ski show in 1955. The following year, she became a regular performer at

Cypress Gardens Cypress Gardens was a botanical garden and theme park near Winter Haven, Florida that operated from 1936 to 2009. As of 2011, the botanical garden portion had been preserved inside the newly formed Legoland Florida. History Billed as Florida' ...

. While performing in ski shows, Rideout was also exposed to competitive water skiing and became a prolific competitor. Notoriously a jumper, she won her first ever jump tournament at the 1957 Dixie. In the same year, she also won the 1957 World Championships in jump. In 1958, Rideout dominated the field by winning all three events in every tournament she entered. One of these events, the U.S. Nationals, saw her break the jump world record with 89 feet. This was the third time in one year in which she broke her own world record. In 1959, Rideout reached another peak in her career by defending her world jump title in Milan and winning the inaugural U.S. Masters in overall. She retired from competitive skiing after the spring of 1960.

Personal life

References

External links

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Video of Nancie Rideout at Cypress Gardens
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rideout, Nancie 1938 births 1996 deaths American water skiers Female water skiers People from Jackson, Michigan Sportspeople from Jackson, Michigan

Biography

Personal life

See also

References

External links