Date of Birth:

1950

Date of Death:

Present

SECTORS:

Sports

BIO:

Cathy Jamison is an Olympic swimmer who trained with the Santa Clara Swim Club in Santa Clara, California. She was born in Portland, Oregon on March 26th, 1950, and began training as a swimmer at the age of 8. Jamison competed all over the country as a teenager and eventually arrived at Santa Clara University. They did not have a women’s swim team, but she was able to join the Santa Clara Swim Club and trained under Coach George Haines, who was noted for producing Olympic swimmers in the 1960s and 1970s. During her freshman year, at 18 years old, she represented the United States at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. She competed in the women’s 200-meter breaststroke and finished fifth overall in the event, with a time of 2:48.4.  

She was a four-time Oregon state champion in the 100-yard breaststroke, and also added titles in the 200 freestyle and 200 medley relay. In the late 1990s, Jamison became a swim coach at Bend Swim Club and Mountain View High in Bend, Oregon for four years. She passed on her love of swimming to her children; two of her daughters went to Cal and Oregon State on swimming scholarships, and her grandchild is an accomplished breaststroker for Bend Swim Club. Her swim cap, which she had her teammates sign, is on view at the Smithsonian 

 

 

Womanhood is a public art and digital media project that promotes the historical contributions of women to Santa Clara County. https://womanhoodproject.org/ 

Womanhood is supported by the County of Santa Clara Office of Women’s Policy. 

Augmented Reality Coming Soon!

 

Project Artist & Trigger Image Source: Elba Raquel

Profile Image Source: Courtesy of Oregon Swimming

 

TRIBUTE ARTIST:

Elba Raquel Martinez