Barbara Gilders

Barbara Sue Gilders is a retired American diver. She competed in the 3 m springboard at the 1956 Summer Olympics and 1959 Pan American Games and finished fourth and third, respectively. Coached by four-time Olympic medalist, Clarence Pinkston, Gilders entered the Olympics as the 1956 AAU champion, and Olympic Trials silver medalist. Later she won the AAU indoor titles in the one-meter and three-meter springboard. In June 1959, she won the Pan American Games trials; later that summer, in what would be her final international competition, Gilders won a bronze medal at the Pan American Games.

Personal life

Gilders is a native of Detroit, MI, and attended Mackenzie High School.
Gilders is the younger sister of Fletcher Gilders, a two-time NCAA diving champion at Ohio State. Fletcher was also a Hall of Fame Diving Coach for Ohio University and three-time NCAA Division III Coach of the Year at Kenyon College. Gilders married John Dudeck, a former swimmer for Michigan State University. A Big Ten Conference record holder and two-time Big Ten titlist in the 100-yard breaststroke, he was a nine-time All-American for the Spartans. Their daughter Diane Dudeck won the national indoor title in the one-meter springboard in 1981; she was also a 1984 NCAA All-American.