We use cookies to ensure you get the best browsing experience. By continued use, you agree to our privacy policy and accept our use of such cookies. For further information, click FIND OUT MORE.
Make this your preferred source to get more updates from this publisher on Google.
Victoria Manalo-Draves, who became the first of two Americans of Asian decent to win an Olympic gold medal, died without much fanfare in Palm Springs, California on April 11. She was 85.
Victoria Manalo Draves, the first woman to win the springboard and platform at the same Olympics, also won many U.S. titles. AP
According to a story published at the New York Times' online edition, Draves’ death was not widely reported. She died at the Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs due to complications from pancreatic cancer aggravated by pneumonia. The 5-foot-1 Draves won two of the US team’s 38 gold medals during the 1948 London Summer Olympics topping the 3-meter springboard and the 10m platform, which was her strongest event. Draves led a US medal sweep of the 3m springboard event after teammates Zoe-Ann Olsen-Jensen and Patricia Anne Elsener won the silver and bronze. She then added the 10m platform gold, beating Elsener (silver) and Denmark’s Birte Christoffersen-Hanson (bronze). Draves, who overcame ethnic prejudice when she was starting her swimming and diving career, and Korean-American Sammy Lee, the men’s platform event gold medal winner, became the first divers of Asian decent to win Olympic gold medals in the London Games. Draves, who wanted to be a ballet dancer, was born on December 31, 1924 to a Filipino father and a British mother. Her parents met and got married in San Francisco.
This file photo taken Aug. 2, 1948, shows Victoria Manalo Draves competing in the springboard diving event in the 1948 London Olympics. AP
Every summer, since she was 10 years old, Draves took swimming lessons from the Red Cross where she paid five cents every session to a pool in the Mission district. When she was 16, Draves met diving coach Phil Patterson, who convinced her to shift from swimming to diving. She met Athens Athletic Club coach Lyle Draves in Oakland when she was 19. They got married in 1946 and after two years Draves won two gold medals in the London Olympics. Aside from two Olympic gold medals, Draves was coached by her husband to five United States championships. She then coached Olympic champions Patricia McCormick and Sue Gossick when she retired from active competition. Draves was elected to the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in 1969 and the city of San Francisco built a two-acre park in her old neighborhood, named after her. She is survived by husband Lyle and their four sons – David, Jeffrey, Dale and Kim. – GMANews.TV
GMA Brandtalk
Tracking
Archives
