Martha Maria Norelius was born in Stockholm on January 22, 1909, and the day after she turned 18, this day, January 23, 1927, she set the third of her career nine freestyle records in events that remain official to his day.

Between 1925 and 1929, Norelius, who moved to the United States as a child and, competing for USA, claimed the Olympic 400m freestyle titles of 1924 and 1928, set at least 10 other global standards over distances that would subsequently become obsolete as official events. She won eleven individual Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) titles during her swimming career and set 30 American records.

Before Australian Ariarne Titmus retained the Olympic 400m freestyle title at Paris 2024, Norelius had been the only woman to have won the back-to-back golds in the event throughout Games history:

Titmus Is The First To Keep The Crown Since 1928

Ariarne Titmus became the first woman to retain the 400m freestyle crown since American Martha Norelius kept the title in 1928 in a World record four years after setting an Olympic standard for her first triumph

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

TIMELINE ... ON THIS DAY:

On This Day In History - When Pioneer Norelius Nudged The Pace Of Freestyle

Timeline - The SOS Daily Trawl of World long-course records set this day throughout history. On this day in 1927, Martha Norelius - between 1928 & 2024 the only woman ever to win back-to-back Olympic 400m free titles, set one of her 19 World freestyle records

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

After adding golds in the 400m freestyle and 4x100m freestyle at the Amsterdam 1928 Olympics, Norelius retired from the amateur realm to become a professional swimmer. Her record-setting $10,000 in prize money for a marathon swim in Toronto in 1929 remains one of the biggest pay days in history for a single swim: what wa 10k back then would be worth not far shy of $200,000 today (details of the swim below with the rest of the Norelius story):