Splash!: Ethelda Bleibtrey Makes Waves of Change

A powerful picture book biography of the first American woman to win Olympic gold in swimming.

Ethelda Bleibtrey was a girl with guts who loved the water. As a child with polio in the early 1900s, swimming set her free. The water released her from her pain and helped her build strong muscles—and a powerful spirit. "At rest and at peace with the world," is how she described her time in the water. From that place of peace, Ethelda began to find her power.

From then on, Ethelda made a splash wherever she went. From the New York beaches—where she was arrested for refusing to wear swimming socks. To the choppy waters of the 1920 Olympics—where she not only became the first American woman to win gold in swimming but the only woman ever to win all of the swimming events at any Olympic Games. To the Central Park Reservoir—where she was arrested yet again for diving in against a city ordinance, a statement that helped get New York City's children their first big public swimming pool.

For Ethelda, doing the right thing sometimes came with a price—change often does—but Ethelda helped make the world better than how she found it. Splash!