New York is not only a city of IT specialists, fashion boutiques and leading technology companies. New York also gave birth to many outstanding athletes who gained world fame. Among such athletes is competition swimmer Eleonora Holm. During her sports career, she managed to win 35 American championships, and she was also a medalist at the 1928 and 1936 Olympic Games. She had an incredibly successful career and very high achievements, but despite this, before the next Olympic Games, Holm was excluded from the team. It became a real sensation. Read more on i-new-york.com.
Holm’s love for swimming
Eleanor Holm is a native New Yorker. She was born in a secular family in 1913. Holm’s love for swimming awakened at a young age. Her family vacationed every summer at their country cottage in Long Beach. Since the house was located next to the ocean, young Holm loved to swim. When she was little and could not swim yet, her mother put special water wings on her that kept her afloat. She lost her fear of water and very often swam far into the ocean. The lifeguard brought her back to the shore every time and warned the parents not to allow that.
In addition to the fact that Holm loved swimming from a young age, she also loved watching professional swimmers at the Long Beach pool. In particular, she enjoyed it when the women’s swimming team came to the pool. She watched the athletes with great pleasure and admiration. In those years, the real idol and role model was the swimmer Helen Meany.
In a team of professional athletes
Love for swimming led Holm to the great sport. When she was just 13 years old, Holm won her first major swimming title. And when Holm was 15 years old, she was chosen as a swimmer to participate in the Summer Olympic Games. She took fifth place in the 100-meter backstroke at the 1928 Games. This was a very good result. In addition to the Olympic Games, Holm repeatedly won many national swimming competitions. Between 1927 and 1935 alone, Holm won 35 American championships and set more than one world record in swimming.
Holm won a gold medal at the 1932 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Holm’s successes were amazing, she never lost and always strived for new heights. She sincerely loved swimming and devoted herself to her favorite sport. Holm was a true world-class swimmer and an extremely social person.
Why was Holm excluded from the Olympic team?
No less than swimming, Holm loved alcohol and parties. This played a cruel joke on her. It all happened when Holm and her team went to Berlin for the next Summer Olympic Games. Holm was invited to a party held on the first-class deck. Loud festivities continued until the morning. She drank a lot and violated the routine for Olympic athletes, for which she received a warning from the officials of the Olympic team.
There was another stop in France on the way to Berlin, where Holm also attracted attention. Together with other guests she played dice and won several hundred dollars. After that, she attended another noisy party, where she again drank a lot. Holm’s companion tried to persuade her to go to bed at 9:00 PM according to the Olympic schedule but nothing worked.
The doctor of the Olympic team reported that Holm suffers from alcoholism. He found her practically in a coma. At the same time, Holm herself denied it. She said that during the trip, all her colleagues on the team also drank alcohol. But Holm was charged, and the president of the US Olympic Committee immediately kicked her off the team after the incident.
While staying in Berlin, Holm continued to attend parties. In particular, she attended events organized by Hitler himself and other Nazi leaders.
After being excluded from the Olympic team, Eleanor Holm began to sing and act in various American films.