Angela Denise Coughlan, O.Ont. (October 4, 1952 – June 14, 2009) was a Canadian competition

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 ...

. At the peak of her competitive swimming career from 1968 to 1971, she was the best Canadian female freestyle specialist, going undefeated in freestyle events at Canadian meets during that time, as well as breaking a world record and 13 Canadian national long course records. As a member of the Canadian national swim team, she anchored the 4x100-metre freestyle and 4x100-metre medley relay teams, and earned both individual and team relay medals at the 1967 Pan American Games, the 1968 Olympics, the 1970 Commonwealth Games and the 1971 Pan American Games. Named Canadian Female Athlete of the Year in 1970, she retired from competitive swimming in 1972 at the age of 19. Part of her post-competitive career was spent as a swim coach and mentor to younger swimmers. She was inducted into the Ontario Aquatic Hall of Fame and the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame.

Early life

Angela Coughlan was born in

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximat ...

, before moving to

Burlington, Ontario Burlington is a city in the Regional Municipality of Halton at the northwestern end of Lake Ontario in Ontario, Canada. Along with Milton to the north, it forms the western end of the Greater Toronto Area and is also part of the Hamilton m ...

at the age of 7, where she attended Elizabeth Gardens Public School and M.M. Robinson High School. While still quite young, she showed early promise as a swimmer, and including the ability to set aside everything in order to practice.

Competitive Swimming

Coughlan qualified for the Canadian national swim team in 1966 at the age of 14, and first competed for Canada at the

1967 Pan American Games The 1967 Pan American Games were held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, from July 23 to August 6, 1967. Winnipeg was chosen as host of the Pan American Games on its second try. It first bid for the 1963 Games at the 1959 PASO meeting in Chicag ...

in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where she won a silver in the 4x100-metre freestyle relay, and bronze medals in the 200, 400 and 800-metre freestyle. At the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport ev ...

in Mexico City, she swam in four individual events as well as the relays. Despite fighting a stomach ailment, she qualified for the finals in all four individual freestyle events, finishing 7th in the 100, 200 and 400-metre freestyle, and 6th in the 800-metre freestyle. Coughlan won a bronze medal as a member of Canada's third-place team in the women's 4x100-metre freestyle relay, together with teammates Marilyn Corson, Elaine Tanner and Marion Lay. At the

1970 Commonwealth Games The 1970 British Commonwealth Games (Scottish Gaelic: Geamannan a 'Cho-fhlaitheis Bhreatainn 1970) were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 16 to 25 July 1970. This was the first time the name British Commonwealth Games was adopted, the first tim ...

in Edinburgh, Scotland, Coughlan earned a gold medal in the 100-metre freestyle, silvers in the 200-metre freestyle, 400-metre freestyle, and 4x100-metre freestyle relay, and a bronze in the 4x100-metre medley relay. For this effort, she was named the 1970 Canadian Female Athlete of the Year and Canadian Female Swimmer of the Year. At the 1971 Pan American Games in Cali, Colombia, she earned a gold medal anchoring the 4x100-metre medley relay, and three silvers (4x100-metre freestyle relay, 100-metre freestyle, 200-metre freestyle). During the peak of her swimming career, Coughlan was, in the words of the Canadian Olympic Committee, "Canada's best female freestyle specialist," winning 23 Canadian championships and sweeping all Canadian freestyle events from 1968 to 1971. During that time, she broke 13 Canadian long-course freestyle records and one world record.

Retirement from swimming and later life

Coughlan retired from competitive swimming in 1972 while still a teenager. That same year, her home city of Burlington opened a new swimming facility attached to her high school that included an indoor 6-lane 25-metre swimming pool. It was named the Angela Coughlan Indoor Pool, an honour that embarrassed the shy 19-year-old. The following year she married fellow Olympic swimmer Tom Arusoo, and they had three daughters before the couple divorced ten years later. She later married Lynn Patrick Sharp. Coughlan spent much of the 1970s as a swim coach before becoming a massage therapist, and was a familiar sight at competitive swim meets for the next 20 years. In recognition of her efforts in the pool, Coughlan was inducted into the Ontario Aquatic Hall of Fame in 1992, the

Order of Ontario The Order of Ontario () is the most prestigious official honour in the Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier David Peterson, the civilian order is ad ...

in 1995, and the Burlington Hall of Fame in 2008. She was diagnosed with

multiple myeloma Multiple myeloma (MM), also known as plasma cell myeloma and simply myeloma, is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell that normally produces antibodies. Often, no symptoms are noticed initially. As it progresses, bone pain, ...

in 2005. A stem cell transplant was initially successful, but she suffered a relapse and succumbed in 2009 at the age of 56, only days before she was to be recognized at the annual Celebration of Significant People Concert in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of ...

Recognition and legacy

*1970: Canadian Female Athlete of the Year and Canadian Female Swimmer of the Year *1972: Angela Coughlan Indoor Pool opens in Burlington, Ontario *1977: Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame *1992: Ontario Aquatic Hall of Fame *1995:

*2008: Burlington Hall of Fame

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coughlan, Angela 1952 births 2009 deaths Canadian female freestyle swimmers Deaths from cancer in Ontario Deaths from multiple myeloma Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Members of the Order of Ontario Olympic bronze medalists for Canada Olympic bronze medalists in swimming Olympic swimmers for Canada Swimmers from London, Ontario Sportspeople from Burlington, Ontario Swimmers at the 1967 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 1971 Pan American Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Canada Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Canada Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Canada Pan American Games gold medalists for Canada Pan American Games silver medalists for Canada Pan American Games bronze medalists for Canada Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Pan American Games medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1967 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1971 Pan American Games 20th-century Canadian women 21st-century Canadian women Medallists at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games

Early life

Competitive Swimming

Retirement from swimming and later life

Recognition and legacy

See also

References