Willy den Ouden

Willemijntje "Willy" den Ouden (1 January 1918, Rotterdam – 6 December 1997, Rotterdam) was a freestyle swimmer from the Netherlands, who held the world record for the 100 m freestyle swimming for nearly 23 years, from 1933 to 1956.

Den Ouden first came in the international limelight when she participated at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and won two of the five contestable silver medals in swimming, an accomplishment that attracted wide attention as at the age of 14 she was also the youngest participant. Four years later at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, she and her compatriots Tini Wagner, Rie Mastenbroek and Jopie Selbach won the gold medal in the women's 4×100 m freestyle relay.

However, den Ouden was far more successful between these two Olympic games. On July 9, 1933 in Antwerp, she broke Helene Madison's two-year old world record on the 100 m freestyle, setting it at 1:06.0. She would improve on this three times, reaching 1:04.6 on Feb 27, 1936 in Amsterdam. This record would last until 1956 when its was broken twice within ten days by Dawn Fraser and Cocky Gastelaars, respectively. Thus, she held the world record on the prime distance in swimming for an unequalled 22 years and 8 months.

Den Ouden further broke the world records on the 200 m freestyle (three times between 1933 and 1936), the 400 m freestyle (in 1934), and the now defunct distances of 100 yd, 200 yd, 300 yd, 400 yd, and 500 m freestyle. She was also the anchor swimmer for the Dutch relay teams that broke the 4×100 m freestyle relay record in 1934 and in 1936. On February 4, 1934, she became the first woman to swim 100 yards in under a minute (59.8 seconds).

She retire from competitive swimming in May 1937, at the age of 19.

Her parental house was destroyed on May 14, 1940 in the bombing of Rotterdam during the German invasion of the Netherlands. All her medals and prizes were lost in the event. After the war she lived in Sweden for many years. Married 1944 with the Swedish singer Staffan Broms.

Den Ouden was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1970.

References

• Dutch Olympic Committee (Dutch)
• Entry at the International Swimming Hall of Fame
• Biography by Cees Zevenbergen (in Dutch).