Cynthia Lee Woodhead (born February 7, 1964) is an American former competition swimmer, world champion, Olympic medalist and world record holder. She won three gold medals at the 1978 world championships, when she was only fourteen years old.[1] She set seven world records during her career.[1]
Career
Woodhead received gold medals in the 200-meter freestyle, 4x100-meter freestyle relay, and 4x100-meter medley relay, and two silver medals at the 1978 World Aquatics Championships in Berlin, when she was only 14 years old.[1]
At the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan she received five gold medals. She won the 100-meter, 200-meter and 400-meter freestyle, as well as being part of the winning U.S. teams at the 4x100-meter freestyle relay and 4x100-meter medley relay.
Woodhead had qualified for six events at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, and was regarded to be among the favorites in the four individual distances, as she was ranked world number one in 100-meter, 200-meter, 400-meter and 800-meter freestyle. Due to the American boycott of Moscow Olympics, she did not get the chance to participate. This was a great disappointment for her, and she has said that the boycott may have triggered her later health problems.[2]
In late 1981 and 1982 she suffered from several health problems—mononucleosis, a broken leg, and pneumonia.[1]
Woodhead competed at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, where she received a silver medal in 200-meter freestyle.[3]
She improved the 50-meter freestyle world record (long course), April 10, 1980, but the record was further improved by Jill Sterkel the same day. She improved the 200-meter freestyle world record (long course), three times, in 1978 and 1979, her last result remained a world record until 1984. She was also a member of the U.S. team that held the 4x100-meter freestyle relay world record from 1978 to 1980.
Awards
Woodhead was selected USOC Sports Woman of the Year 1979. She was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1994.[1]
References
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- 1973: East Germany (Ender, Eife, Hübner, Eichner)
- 1975: East Germany (Ender, Krause, Hempel, Brückner)
- 1978: United States (Caulkins, Elkins, Sterkel, Woodhead)
- 1982: East Germany (Meineke, Link, Otto, Metschuck)
- 1986: East Germany (Otto, Stellmach, Schulze, Friedrich)
- 1991: United States (Haislett, Cooper, Hedgepeth, Thompson)
- 1994: China (Le J., Shan, Le Y., Lü)
- 1998: United States (Farella, Van Dyken, Bedford, Thompson)
- 2001: Germany (Dallmann, Buschschulte, Meißner, Völker)
- 2003: United States (Coughlin, Benko, Jeffrey, Thompson)
- 2005: Australia (Henry, Mills, Reese, Lenton)
- 2007: Australia (Lenton, Schlanger, Reese, Henry)
- 2009: Netherlands (Dekker, Kromowidjojo, Heemskerk, Veldhuis)
- 2011: Netherlands (Dekker, Kromowidjojo, Veldhuis, Heemskerk)
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- 1973: East Germany (Richter, Vogel, Kother, Ender)
- 1975: East Germany (Richter, Anke, Kother, Ender)
- 1978: United States (Jasek, Caulkins, Pennington, Woodhead)
- 1982: East Germany (Otto, Geweniger, Geißler, Meineke)
- 1986: East Germany (Zimmermann, Gerasch, Gressler, Otto)
- 1991: United States (Wagstaff, McFarlane, Leighton, Haislett)
- 1994: China (He, Dai, Liu, Le)
- 1998: United States (Maurer, Kowal, Thompson, Van Dyken)
- 2001: Australia (Calub, Jones, Thomas, Ryan)
- 2003: China (Zhan, Luo, Zhou, Yang)
- 2005: Australia (Edington, Jones, Schipper, Lenton)
- 2007: Australia (Seebohm, Jones, Schipper, Lenton)
- 2009: China (Zhao, Chen, Jiao, Li)
- 2011: United States (Coughlin, Soni, Vollmer, Franklin)
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- 1951: United States (Green, Geary, LaVine, Mullen)
- 1955: United States (Werner, Green, Kluter, Roberts)
- 1959: United States (Botkin, Spillane, Stobs, Von Saltza)
- 1963: United States (De Varona, Stouder, McCleary, Norton)
- 1967: United States (Fordyce, Carpinelli, Gustavson, Kruse)
- 1971: United States (Neilson, Fordyce, McKitrick, Skrifvars)
- 1975: United States (Heddy, Brown, Sterkel, Peyton)
- 1979: United States (Elkins, Caulkins, Sterkel, Woodhead)
- 1983: United States (Sterkel, Torres, Wayte, Steinseifer)
- 1987: United States (Coffin, Thompson, Linke, Steinseifer)
- 1991: United States (Oesting, Buckovich, Jacob, Tappin)
- 1995: United States (Martino, Van Dyken, Farella, Teuscher)
- 1999: Canada (Deglau, Limpert, Evanetz, Nicholls)
- 2003: United States (Weir, Swindle, Lanne, Shealy)
- 2007: United States (Smit, Woodward, Kukors, Correia)
- 2011: United States (Kennedy, Pelton, Kendall, Erndl)
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- 1951: United States (Geary, Pence, O'Brien)
- 1955: United States (O'Connor, Sears, Mullen, Werner)
- 1959: United States (Cone, Brancroft, Collins, Von Saltza)
- 1963: United States (Duenkel, Goyette, Stouder, De Varona)
- 1967: United States (Moore, Ball, Daniel, Fordyce)
- 1971: Canada
- 1975: United States (Bonne, Morey, Wright, Peyton)
- 1979: United States (Jezek, Caulkins, Sterkel, Woodhead)
- 1983: United States (Walsh, Rhodenbaugh, Lehner, Steinseifer)
- 1987: United States (Green, Heisick, Jorgensen, Linke)
- 1991: United States (Wilson, Tierney, Wester-Krieg, Tappin)
- 1995: United States (Bedford, King Bednar, Van Dyken, Martino)
- 1999: United States (Knapp, Stitts, Campbell, Spatz)
- 2003: United States (MacManus, Stitts, Vollmer, Weir)
- 2007: United States (Smit, McKeehan, Hersey, Correia)
- 2011: United States (Bootsma, Chandler, Donahue, Kendall)
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Men's Team |
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Women's Team |
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Coaches |
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Men's Team |
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Women's Team |
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Coaches |
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Persondata |
Name |
Woodhead, Cynthia |
Alternative names |
Woodhead, Cynthia Lee; Woodhead, Cynthia L.; Woodhead, Sippy |
Short description |
American swimmer, Olympic silver medalist, world champion, former world record-holder |
Date of birth |
February 7, 1964 |
Place of birth |
Riverside, California, United States |
Date of death |
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Place of death |
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