fullname club birth_place weight height birth_date article_title strokes name
sylvia eliina ruuska berkeley ymca berkeley , california 139 lb kg on 5 ft 8 in m on 4 july 1942 sylvia ruuska
 freestyle , individual medley sylvia ruuska
sylvia ruuska

sylvia eliina ruuska -lrb- born july 4 , 1942 -rrb- is 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 1956 summer olympics in melbourne , australia .
she captured a silver medal by swimming for the second-place u.s. team in the women 's 4x100-meter freestyle relay .
individually , she also received a bronze medal for her third-place finish in the women 's 400-meter freestyle .
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 -lrb- 5:03.4 -rrb- , finishing behind fellow american chris von saltza -lrb- 4:55.9 -rrb- .
at the 1960 summer olympics in rome , italy , ruuska swam for the gold medal-winning u.s. team in the preliminary heats of the women 's 4x100-meter freestyle relay .
under the international swimming rules in effect in 1960 , she did not receive a medal because she did not swim in the event final .
ruuska was inducted into the international swimming hall of fame in 1976 .
