Ellie Daniel


Eleanor Suzanne Daniel, is an American former competition swimmer, four-time Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder.

Early age group swimming

In her earlier years, Daniel trained with Hall of Fame Coach Mary Freeman Kelly at the Vesper Boat Club team in Philadelphia. She started on the "B" team, swimming at the aquarium, underneath the art museum. The following year, she made the "A" team, which practiced at the University of Pennsylvania's Weightman Hall pool.
Later, when her family moved to California around 1967, she swam with Hall of Fame Coach Sherm Chavoor at Arden Hills Swim Club in Sacramento. In her second year of competition, she came in eighth in the 1,500-meter freestyle at the AAU national championships. Afterward, she switched to the butterfly stroke, which came naturally to her because she was double-jointed in her back and her strength was in her shoulders, and won seven national championships. Around 1967, she graduated Abington Senior High in Abington, Pennsylvania.

1967 Pan Am games

At the 1967 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, she won gold medals in the 100-meter butterfly, and swimming the butterfly leg in the 4×100-meter medley relay with her teammates Kendis Moore, Catie Ball, and Wendy Fordyce .

1968 Olympics

Daniel represented the United States at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, where she competed in three events under U.S. Olympic Head Coach Sherm Chavoor, who had coached her at the Arden Hills Club. She received a gold medal by swimming the butterfly leg for the winning U.S. team in the women's 4×100-meter medley relay, together with teammates Kaye Hall, Catie Ball, and Sue Pedersen, a teammate from Arden Hills. The American women set a new Olympic record of 4:28.3, defeating the Australians and West Germans. In individual competition, she won a silver medal in the 100-meter butterfly, and a bronze medal in the 200-meter butterfly.

1972 Olympics

Daniel received a bronze medal in 200-meter butterfly at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. She also competed in the 100-meter butterfly, finishing sixth in the event final.
She held the 200-meter butterfly world record from August 1971 to August 1972. In her swimming career, she was a national champion seven times and took 14 individual American and/or national records.

College

Daniel is a 1976 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, and trained with both the Women's team and Penn's Men swim team under Hall of Fame Coach George Breen, a former Olympian. She was a standout on the Women's team. She had a double major in psychology and elementary education, and later attended law school. She is currently a prosecutor with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office.

Swimming administration

She was an executive member of the U.S. Olympic Committee, and the U.S. Olympic Committee's Athletes Advisory Council. She was a member of the Speakers' Bureau for the Olympic Organizing Committee before the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games.

Honors

Daniel was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in 1997. She is also a member of the University of Pennsylvania Athletic Hall of Fame.