18 Facts About Vicki Draves

Victoria Manalo Draves was a Filipino American competitive diver who won gold medals in both platform and springboard diving at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.

Vicki Draves became the first woman to be awarded gold medals for both the ten-meter platform and the three-meter springboard.

Vicki Draves grew up with her parents, her twin sister Connie, her older sister Frankie, and a younger brother, Sonny, who died as a child.

Vicki Draves graduated from Commerce High School on Van Ness Avenue in 1942 and worked a temporary civil service job in the Army Port Surgeon's office to add to the family's meager income.

Vicki Draves instead found a job at the Presidio military base.

At the 1944 national AAU championships, the men's 1942 platform champion, Sammy Lee, befriended her and introduced her to his coaching friend, Lyle Vicki Draves, who ran the swimming and diving program at the prestigious Athens Athletic Club in Oakland.

Manalo then started training with Lyle Vicki Draves, adding platform diving to her springboard diving repertoire.

Lyle Vicki Draves left the San Francisco Bay Area for Los Angeles in disgust at the racism in the Fairmont Hotel Swimming and Diving Club.

Vicki Draves married her coach on July 12,1946, and won the National Tower Diving Championship, in 1946,1947 and 1948.

Vicki Draves gave platform diving exhibitions at the Rizal Stadium and in other Philippine venues, and for Philippine president Elpidio Quirino.

Vicki Draves appeared in a Life layout in 1949, being named one of the magazine's top two US athletes at the 1948 Olympics.

Vicki Draves turned professional after the Olympics, joining Larry Crosby's "Rhapsody in Swimtime" aquatic show for her pro debut at Soldier Field in Chicago in 1948.

In 1949 and 1950, Vicki Draves toured the US, Canada, and Europe with Buster Crabbe's "Aqua Parade".

Vicki Draves worked as a secretary while her husband remained a coach and swimming director.

Vicki Draves was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1969.

In 2005, Vicki Draves was selected for the year's Most Outstanding Alumnus of City College of San Francisco.

Vicki Draves received a resounding ovation from the 2000 graduating students in attendance.

Vicki Draves died on April 11,2010, aged 85, from pancreatic cancer aggravated by pneumonia.