Sylvia Ruuska

Sylvia Ruuska

Personal information
Full name	Sylvia Eliina Ruuska
National team	United States
Born	(1942-07-04)July 4, 1942 Berkeley, California
Died	February 7, 2019(2019-02-07) (aged 76)
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Weight	139 lb (63 kg)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle, individual medley
Club	Berkeley YMCA
Medal record Women's swimming Representing the United States Olympic Games 1956 Melbourne 4x100 m freestyle 1956 Melbourne 400 m freestyle Pan American Games 1959 Chicago 400 m freestyle

Sylvia Eliina Ruuska (July 4, 1942 – February 7, 2019) was an American former competition swimmer, Olympic medalist and former world record-holder in two events.

At the age of 14, Ruuska won two medals at the

On June 27, 1958, she became the first woman to set an official world record in the 400-meter individual medley, clocking 5:46.6. Ruuska subsequently broke her own 400-meter record three times in 1958 and 1959, ultimately lowering the world mark to 5:40.2 on July 17, 1959. She also set a new world record of 2:43.2 in the 200-meter individual medley on August 16, 1958, and breaking her own record with a time of 2:40.3 on January 14, 1959. Both her 200-meter and 400-meter individual medley world records were later broken by Donna de Varona. At the 1959 Pan American Games in Chicago, she won a silver medal for her second-place showing in the 400-meter freestyle (5:03.4), finishing behind fellow American Chris von Saltza (4:55.9).

At the

Ruuska was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1976.^[2]

• List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)
• List of Stanford University people
• World record progression 200 metres individual medley
• World record progression 400 metres individual medley

• Sylvia Ruuska at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• Sylvia Ruuska (USA) – Honor Swimmer profile at International Swimming Hall of Fame