Elizabeth Whittall (May 26, 1936 – May 1, 2015) was a Canadian competitive

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 ...

from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. When she was 17 years old, Whittall won a silver medal in the

1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fi ...

as a member of the Canadian 4×110 yd freestyle relay team. While studying pharmacy at Purdue University, Whittall won two gold medals at the

1955 Pan American Games The 1955 Pan American Games opened on March 12, 1955, in the University Stadium (now Olympic Stadium) in Mexico City, Mexico, in front of a capacity crowd of 100,000 spectators. A total number of 2,583 athletes from 22 nations marched in review ...

in Mexico City. She also won the 100-metre butterfly and the 400-metre freestyle events and was a member of the Canadian 4x400-metre medley relay team that won a silver medal. For those achievements, she was awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's top athlete for 1955 and was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame. At the end of that year, she held five Canadian swimming records, including the 110-yard butterfly, and the one-mile swim. She finished seventh in the 100-metre butterfly at the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, whi ...

and retired from competition the following year. In 1987, at the age of 50, Whittall set a Canadian record in the 200-metre freestyle for competitors in the 50-to-54 age group. Whittall died on May 1, 2015, at the age of 78, and was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame on June 17, 2015.

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* * * * * * * 1936 births 2015 deaths Anglophone Quebec people Canadian female butterfly swimmers Canadian female freestyle swimmers Northern Star Award winners Olympic swimmers for Canada Purdue University College of Pharmacy alumni Swimmers from Montreal Swimmers at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 1955 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 1956 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for Canada Pan American Games silver medalists for Canada Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Canada Pan American Games medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1955 Pan American Games Medallists at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games {{Canada-swimming-bio-stub