18 Facts About Aileen Riggin

Aileen Muriel Riggin, known by her married name Aileen Soule, was an American competition swimmer and diver.

Aileen Riggin was Olympic champion in springboard diving in 1920 and US national springboard diving champion from 1923 to 1925.

Aileen Riggin was a swimming celebrity in Hawaii and the United States and an active ambassador of women's swimming well into old age.

Aileen Riggin's family settled in Brooklyn Heights in New York and at the age of eleven she became a charter member of the celebrated Women's Swimming Association of New York, founded by Charlotte Epstein in 1917.

Aileen Riggin first took up diving in 1919 at the age of thirteen; she practiced in a tide pool on Long Island because there were no training facilities provided in those days for female divers.

Aileen Riggin had spent some time studying ballet at the Metropolitan Opera School of Ballet in New York and her ballet training enabled her to fine-tune her performance in artistic diving.

Aileen Riggin was only 14 years and 120 days old when she won a gold medal in the women's 3 metre springboard diving event at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, making her the youngest female Olympic champion.

Still only eighteen, Aileen Riggin competed at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris in both diving and swimming, winning a silver medal in the 3m springboard diving and a bronze medal in the 100m backstroke swimming event.

Aileen Riggin made the first underwater swimming film in 1922 and the first slow motion coaching films for Grantland Rice in 1923.

Aileen Riggin retired from competitions in 1925 and spent her time helping to organize exhibitions and swimming demonstrations overseas.

Aileen Riggin had minor roles in several Hollywood films: she was a dancer in the 1933 musical Roman Scandals and she skated in the first Sonja Henie film One in a Million in 1936.

Aileen Riggin starred in Billy Rose's first Aquacade at the 1937 Cleveland Exposition, which she helped to organize.

Aileen Riggin wrote books about her experiences in swimming and she became a successful sports journalist, writing newspaper columns for the New York Daily Post, the London Morning Post and others.

Aileen Riggin's articles were published in national magazines such as Good Housekeeping and Collier's.

Aileen Riggin gained a stepdaughter named Patricia Soule Anderson and two stepsons, Bruce Soule and Wallace Soule.

Aileen Riggin Soule moved to Hawaii in 1957 with her second husband, where they lived together for almost twenty-five years; she was widowed for the second time in 1981 and lived alone in Waikiki after her husband's death.

Aileen Riggin was a founder member of the Hawaii Senior Games Association, supporters of the Senior Olympics, and remained a board member into old age.

Aileen Riggin continued to swim into old age and at the age of 85 she broke six world records in freestyle and backstroke sprints in the World Masters for her age group.