 Lenk with then-Brazilian Minister of SportsAgnelo Queiroz, 2003 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| National team |  Brazil |
| Born | January 15, 1915 São Paulo, Brazil |
| Died | April 16, 2007(2007-04-16) (aged 92) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Swimming |
Maria Emma Hulga Lenk (January 15, 1915 – April 16, 2007) was a Brazilianswimmer, the first South American woman to participate in theSummer Olympic Games, in1932 (Los Angeles).[1][2]
Born inSão Paulo, Maria Lenk was the first Brazilian in history to set aworld record in swimming. On November 8, 1939, inRio de Janeiro with a time of 2:56.0, she beatJopie Waalberg's previous record of 2:56.9, for the200m breaststroke event.[3] This record lasted almost 5 years, untilNel van Vliet, from theNetherlands broke it on August 17, 1946, with a time of 2:52.6.
In the same year, she also broke the world record for the discontinued category of 400m breaststroke, with a time of 6:15.8.[4]
She also participated in the1936 Summer Olympics, inBerlin, where she reached the semifinals of the200m breaststroke event. In this occasion, she also became the first woman in the world to swim theButterfly stroke in an official competition. At the time, the Butterfly stroke was used as a form of swimming theBreaststroke, and not yet recognized as a separate swimming stroke. Lenk's account of the event was that at the time she subscribed to aGerman specialized magazine that ran a story onDavid Armbruster's andJack Sieg's work in developing "a new way of swimming the Breaststroke". She became interested and started practicing the stroke by herself in her training sections. In 1936, she and Jack Sieg were the only two people that were prepared to use the technique in the Breaststroke events at the Summer Olympics.
Lenk's goal of winning an Olympic medal was cut short whenWorld War II caused the cancellation of the Games of 1940 and 1944, which would have corresponded to her peak in competitive swimming.
She retired in 1942, but never stopped swimming, focusing on Masters events.
On April 16, 2007, she was training in theClube de Regatas do Flamengo's swimming pool when her blood pressure dropped and she suffered a suddenrespiratory arrest. She was taken to Copa D'Or Hospital, inCopacabana, but medical personnel couldn't revive her and she died ofcardiac arrest, aged 92.[5]
Before her death, Maria Lenk still swam 1½ kilometres every day, even in her 90s.
At the time of her death, Maria Lenk still held five Master World Records:
| Pool | Age Group | Time | Event | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LC | 90-94 | 1:25.91 | 50m breaststroke | December 18, 2005 |
| LC | 90-94 | 3:12.88 | 100m breaststroke | August 15, 2005 |
| LC | 90-94 | 6:57.76 | 200m breaststroke | August 15, 2005 |
| SC | 85-89 | 2:29.90 | 100m breaststroke | April 9, 2000 |
| SC | 90-94 | 6:37.73 | 200m breaststroke | April 21, 2005 |
| Records | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Women's 200 metre breaststroke world record holder (long course) 8 November 1939 – 19 March 1941 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
