# Lynn Colella

Lynn Ann Colella (born June 13, 1950) is an American former swimmer and Olympic medalist who trained at Seattle's Cascade Swim Club and the University of Washington before the college had a varsity women's team. She represented the United States at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, where she won a silver medal in the 200-meter butterfly, finishing behind American team member Karen Moe. She is the sister of Rick Colella, a 1976 Montreal Olympic bronze medalist in swimming.
Colella was born June 13, 1950, in Seattle, Washington. Her talents were first noticed when she was swimming with two of her three brothers at Sand Point Country Club. Colella soon began swimming for Cascade Swim Club, a strong local program, where she progressed rapidly. Lynn attended Seattle's Nathan Hale High School, where she graduated in 1968, and won her first national race at 18 after high school graduation. During her high school years, she was an eight time winner at the city wide Seattle All-City Swim Carnival.

### University of Washington

Colella attended the University of Washington as an undergraduate roughly from 1968-1972, and completed an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering, while later pursuing post-graduate studies at Washington. She received a scholarship to aid with her tuition from Phillips Petroleum, a company that has also sponsored at least one California age-group swim team. Lynn trained with the men's varsity swim team at Washington as there was no women's varsity team until 1976. In her Freshman year, Lynn was coached by John Tallman who served as Washington's Head Coach after 1962. For most of her time training with the Huskies men's varsity, she was managed by ASCAA Hall of Fame Head Coach Earl Ellis who coached the Husky's swim team from 1969-1998 and would coach the women's team when it began in 1976.
During her college years, Lynn also trained with the Washington University Club team, and the University of Washington Intramural women's swimming group that competed at the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) national championships. Lynn captured three titles at an AIAW meet, and set three records at the AIAW National Collegiate Championship in 1972.
In 1968, Collela missed a birth on the U.S. Olympic team in 1968 by only .03 seconds, placing fourth in the trials, and did not qualify.

### 1972 Olympic silver medal

Serving as a Co-captain at the 1972 Munich Olympics, Colella received a silver medal in the women's 200 meter butterfly event, finishing with a time of 2:15.57. In the event final, American Ellie Daniel, the 1968 Mexico Olympic bronze medalist in the event, took the lead on the first lap over the 100-meter butterfly champion, Mayumi Aoki of Japan, but Rosemarie Kother of East Germany took a substantial 100 meter lead over both competitors. Kother held her lead through 150 meters, but at the 150-meter turn American Daniel recaptured the lead, with world record holder American Karen Moe on her heels. Moe took and never relinquished the lead at the 170 meter mark. At roughly the same time American Karen Moe took the lead at the 170-meter mark, Colella passed both Daniel and Kother. In a highly competitive race and close finish, the Americans swept the finals, with Karen Moe winning the gold, Collela taking the silver only .77 seconds behind Moe, and American teammate Ellie Daniel taking the bronze only .4 seconds behind Collela.
In international competition at the 1973 World Championships in Belgrade, Lynn won bronze medals in both the 200-meter breaststroke and butterfly events. At the 1971 Pan American Games in Cali, Lynn won golds in both the 200-meter breaststroke and butterfly, a silver in the 4x100-meter medley relay, and a bronze in the 100-meter breaststroke. She won three golds at the Universiade in Turin in the 100-meter butterfly, the 200-meter medley, and the 4x100-meter medley relay.

### Honors

In 1971 Lynn and her brother Richard won the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Man of the Year award. Colella was admitted to the University of Washington's Husky Hall of Fame in 1980. She was the first women to gain entrance into the honorary, and was awarded four consecutive years of varsity letters for each of her years of attendance. Lynn is also a Seattle Public High School Athletic Hall of Fame inductee.