Helen Eileen Johns (September 25, 1914 – July 23, 2014), later known by her married name Helen Carroll, was an American competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder.

Career

Johns was born in

East Boston East Boston, nicknamed Eastie, is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts annexed by the city of Boston in 1637. Neighboring communities include Winthrop, Revere, and Chelsea. It is separated from the Boston neighborhood of Charlestown and d ...

, but grew up in nearby Medford, Massachusetts. At the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, Johns represented the United States at the age of 17.Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes
Helen Johns
. Retrieved December 3, 2012. She won a gold medal in the women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay with U.S. teammates Eleanor Garatti,

Helene Madison Helene Emma Madison (June 19, 1913 – November 27, 1970) was an American competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder. Madison won three gold medals in freestyle event at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, becom ...

and

Josephine McKim Josephine Eveline McKim (January 4, 1910 – December 10, 1992), also known by her married name Josephine Chalmers, was an American swimmer who won three medals at the 1928 and 1932 Olympics. In 1928 she won the bronze medal in the 400-meter fr ...

. The American women set a new world record in the event with a time of 4:38.0, beating teams from the Netherlands (silver) and Great Britain (bronze) by nine and fourteen seconds, respectively. In 1936 Johns graduated from Pembroke College, the former

women's college Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women. Some women's colleges admit male stud ...

of Brown University, with a bachelor's degree in psychology and economics. She later received her master's degree in special education. Johns married Eugene Carroll in 1937 and moved to Swansea, Massachusetts wherein they had two daughters, Deborah and Judith. In 1957 they moved to Sumter, South Carolina. In addition to coaching swimming, she became a special education teacher in the Sumter School District in Sumter, South Carolina in 1957 and retired from that position in 1980. In 1996 Johns carried the Olympic torch for a stretch in the

Olympic torch relay The Olympic torch relay is the ceremonial relaying of the Olympic flame from Olympia, Greece, to the site of an Olympic Games. It was first performed at the 1936 Summer Olympics, and has taken place prior to every Games since. Although in the pa ...

for the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. She was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame for her achievements as an Olympic swimmer in 2004. Johns died on July 23, 2014, at the age of 99, in Sumter.Marvin Pave,
Helen Johns Carroll, 99; was gold medalist in 1932 Olympics
" ''Boston Globe'' (August 15, 2014). Retrieved August 18, 2014.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johns, Helen 1914 births 2014 deaths American female freestyle swimmers World record setters in swimming Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming Pembroke College in Brown University alumni People from East Boston, Boston Sportspeople from Boston Sportspeople from Medford, Massachusetts Swimmers at the 1932 Summer Olympics 21st-century American women

Career

See also

References

External links