Donna De Varona

Donna De Varona, born in 1947, American swimmer, who won two gold medals at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. She is also known for her activities in promoting women's sports.

Donna Elizabeth de Varona was born in San Diego, California. In 1960, at the age of 13, she won the 400-meter individual medley event at the United States outdoor national championships, breaking the world record. Because the event was not contested at the Olympics, she was only named to the U.S. Olympic team as an alternate. She competed in preliminary events but not in any finals. After the Olympics she developed into America's leading female swimmer, winning U.S. outdoor national championship titles in several events from 1961 to 1964. Her best event was the 400-meter individual medley, in which she also won national titles in 1961, 1963, and 1964.

At the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, de Varona won the 400-meter individual medley race, the first such race held for women at the Olympics. She also was a member of the winning 4 × 100-meter freestyle relay team. Her success made her widely popular throughout the United States. After the 1964 Olympics, de Varona retired from competitive swimming and enrolled at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). She also became the first female sportscaster on network television, and at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, she became the first female television commentator for the games. In 1974, with tennis player Billie Jean King, diver Micki King, track-and-field athlete Wyomia Tyus, and speed skater and cyclist Sheila Young, de Varona helped found the Women's Sports Foundation, an organization to enhance sports experiences for women. She was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1987.