Catharine Ball Condon (born September 30, 1951), née Catharine Northcutt Ball, is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in three events. 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 eve ...

, she won a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. 4×100-meter medley relay team. Ball is a former

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

holder in the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke events, and is remembered as a teenage star who was the dominant female breaststroke swimmer of her generation.

Early years

Ball was born in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

, in 1951. As a teenager, she swam for the J.E.T.S. swim team in

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

(AAU) competition, the Florida Yacht Club, and attended Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville.Florida Sports Hall of Fame, Inductees
Catie Ball (2010)
Retrieved November 7, 2014.Gene Frenette,
Where are they now? Olympic swimmer Catie Ball-Condon
" ''The Florida Times-Union'' (July 22, 2011). Retrieved November 7, 2014. In August 1966, she set a new American record of 2:44.8 in the 200-meter breaststroke at the AAU national championships, shattering the previous mark by almost three seconds. In December 1966, she tied the world record of 1:15.7 in the 100-meter breaststroke at the international swim meet at the Hall of Fame pool in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.Associated Press,
Catie Ball Equals World Swim Mark; Her 1:15.7 Ties Record in Breast-Stroke Event
" ''The New York Times'', p. S38 (December 29, 1966). Retrieved November 7, 2014. While swimming for the Lee High School Generals swim team, she won the 1967 Florida 2A state high school championships in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard breaststroke events, setting Florida state records in both.Jamie Secola,
Hall of Fame induction cements Ball-Condon's swimming legacy
" ''Pensacola News-Journal'' (July 4, 2010). Retrieved November 7, 2014.
FHSAA Girls Swimming & Diving 2014–15 Championship Records
', Florida High School Athletic Association, Tallahassee, Florida, pp. 13 & 15 (2014). Retrieved November 7, 2014. Her Florida record in the 100-yard breaststroke stood for eleven years.

International swimming career

Ball set a new world record in the 200-meter breaststroke at the Santa Clara invitational swim meet in July 1967.Associated Press,
4 Swim Records Topple On The Coast
" ''The New York Times'', p. 41 (July 10, 1967). Retrieved November 7, 2014. At the 1967 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Ball won two individual gold medals in the women's 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke events, and a third in the women's 4×100-meter medley relay in which she swam the breaststroke leg for the winning U.S. team of Kendis Moore, Ball, Ellie Daniel and Wendy Fordyce.Associated Press,
Spitz and Catie Ball Shatter World Swim Records at Pan-American Games
" ''The New York Times'', p. S36 (August 1, 1967). Retrieved November 7, 2014.Murray Rose,
American Swimmers Garner 28 Titles
" ''The Evening News'', p. 4D (August 2, 1967). Retrieved November 7, 2014. In the process, she set new world records in all three events. During 1967, she set world records in all four (two metric, two non-metric) individual breaststroke events as a 15-year-old. Despite having to overcome

mononucleosis Infectious mononucleosis (IM, mono), also known as glandular fever, is an infection usually caused by the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV). Most people are infected by the virus as children, when the disease produces few or no symptoms. In young adult ...

and missing several scheduled meets in early 1968,Associated Press,
U.S.–Yugoslavia in Cage Finals
" ''The Evening Independent'', p. 2C (October 23, 1968). Retrieved November 7, 2014. Ball was the favorite to win three gold medals at the 1968 Olympics. She was the reigning world record holder in all four breaststroke distances and bettered her own world records in the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke at the U.S. Olympic Trials in August 1968.United Press International,
Catie Ball Clips World Swim Mark
" ''The New York Times'', p. 50 (August 27, 1968). Retrieved November 7, 2014. She arrived at the

in Mexico City, however, with a case of influenza. She won her only Olympic medal, a gold, as a member of the winning U.S. 4×100-meter medley relay team by swimming the breaststroke leg of the four-person relay.databaseOlympics.com, Athletes
Catie Ball
. Retrieved November 7, 2014. Sharing the gold medal honors were her relay teammates Kaye Hall (backstroke), Ellie Daniel (butterfly) and Susan Pedersen (freestyle). In the 100-meter breaststroke final, Ball led close to the finish but physical exhaustion overwhelmed her, and she finished fifth. She was too ill to swim in the subsequent preliminary heats of the 200-meter breaststroke and was scratched from the event.

College coaching career

After the Olympics, Ball received a special scholarship to attend the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in Gainesville, Florida, but effectively dropped out of competition swimming because there were no women's college swim teams at the time and because of her desire to lead a more "normal" life. As an

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-le ...

senior at the University of Florida, she was hired by athletic director

Ray Graves Samuel Ray Graves (December 31, 1918 – April 10, 2015) was an American college and professional football player and college football coach. He was a native of Tennessee and a graduate of the University of Tennessee, where he was the starting ...

to be the first head coach of the newly organized women's

Florida Gators swimming and diving The Florida Gators swimming and diving program represents the University of Florida in the aquatics sports of swimming and diving. The program includes separate men's and women's teams, both of which compete in Division I of the National Coll ...

team in Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) competition during the 1972–73 school year. In their first year of intercollegiate competition, Ball's Lady Gators swimmers were undefeated in dual meets and placed second at the AIAW national championship during her single-season tenure. Ball graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in education in 1973.

Life after swimming

Ball currently resides in Pensacola, Florida. In the time since retiring from competition swimming at the age of 17, she has been a college swim coach,

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th ce ...

teacher, junior swim coach, housewife and

interior decorator Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordin ...

. Ball and her business partner have operated a successful interior decorating business, "Beside the Point," for the past decade. She and her husband Tom Condon have three children and two grandchildren. She was inducted into the

International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the s ...

in 1976, and the Florida Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.

World records

Women's 100-meter breaststroke Women's 200-meter breaststroke Women's 4×100-meter medley relay Note: All record times and locations are sourced to USA Swimming's list of world records.USASwimming
Women's Records
Retrieved November 7, 2014.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ball, Catie 1951 births Living people American female breaststroke swimmers Florida Gators swimming coaches World record setters in swimming Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming Sportspeople from Jacksonville, Florida Swimmers at the 1967 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 1968 Summer Olympics University of Florida alumni Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Swimmers from Florida Pan American Games medalists in swimming Robert E. Lee High School (Jacksonville) alumni Medalists at the 1967 Pan American Games 21st-century American women