| Barbara Warren | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 9, 1943 St. Johann in Tirol, Austria |
| Died | August 26, 2008 Santa Barbara, California |
| Nationality | Austria |
| Other names | Barbara Angely, Barbara Mueller, Barbara Muller, Barbara Muné, Barbara Alvarez |
| Occupation | Counselor, model, actress and triathlete |
| Known for | Ultra-distance athlete |
| Spouse | Tom Warren (previous husband, Armando Alvarez) |
| Children | 2 daughters |
Barbara Warren (April 9, 1943 – August 26, 2008) was an Austrian-American counselor, model, actress, and triathlete.[1][2]
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Born Barbara Mueller in St. Johann in Tirol, Austria to Hans and Ingrid Mueller, she and her identical twin sister, Angelika Drake, left their farmhouse at 14 for high school in Innsbruck and then, at age 17, went on to study art history at the Accademia di Belle Arti Firenze in Florence, Italy. They took occasional modeling work before moving to Mexico City in 1965, where they began modeling fulltime, eventually opening a school, agency and design boutique. Barbara began performing under the stage name Barbara Angely,[3] abruptly ending that career out of dissatisfaction with a jet-set lifestyle. Barbara eventually married importer Armando Alvarez, which led to a four-year separation from her sister.
Her family moved to Brownsville, Texas in 1980. In 1983, Barbara began running recreationally. By 1985, Angelika and her family had moved to San Diego, California. Barbara, with her family, followed her sister, relocating to San Diego later that same year.
Calling themselves "The Twin Team,"[4] the sisters began participating in a number of endurance sports, including their first standard triathlon in 1987 and their first Ironman Triathlon in 1988. All told, Barbara completed 13 Ford Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Hawaii, winning her age group in the 2003 Ironman Kona.[5] Warren and her sister were profiled in Reckless: The Outrageous Lives of Nine Kick-Ass Women.[6]
In the early 1990s, she met triathlete Tom Warren, who won the second Ironman competition in 1979, and the two married in 1995.
On Saturday, August 23, 2008, Warren broke her odontoid process and the cervical vertebra 2 and was diagnosed as paralyzed from a bicycle crash that happened on a descent during the Santa Barbara, California, triathlon. She was put on life support at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.[7] According to what her family told the San Diego Union-Tribune, she communicated through blinking that she wanted her ventilator turned off, and, at the request of the family, a doctor removed her ventilator on August 26.[8]
The Santa Barbara Triathlon's Barbara Warren Community Spirit Award is named in her honor.[9]