Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search

  • Advertisements

The 15 biggest moments for women in the Summer Olympics

Since 1900, when women first began competing in the Olympic Games, there have been many unforgettable moments. 

- Contributor

From left to right, Madeleine Moreau of France and Americans Patricia McCormick and Zoe Jensen after the women's springboard diving event at the Summer Olympics Games in 1952. (Madi Mady Pat / AP)

13. A diving double-double

In the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, American diver Patricia McCormick won a gold medal in both the springboard and platform events. Four years later in Melbourne she achieved what is known as a “double-double” in Olympic diving, winning gold in both events again.

McCormick is still the only woman in the history of diving, and only one of two divers ever, to achieve an Olympic double-double.

Perhaps the best testament to McCormick’s diving legacy is her daughter’s Olympic success. At the 1984 Los Angles Games, Kelly McCormick won the silver medal for springboard diving, and in 1986 she took the bronze for springboard in Seoul.

The McCormicks are the only mother-daughter medal winning combination in the history of the Olympics.


Read Comments

View reader comments | Comment on this story

  • Weekly review of global news and ideas
  • Balanced, insightful and trustworthy
  • Subscribe in print or digital

Special Offer