Inge Sørensen

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Inge Sørensen swim
Inge Sørensen 1936.jpg

Inge Sørensen 1936

Personal information
Surname: Inge Sørensen
Nation: DenmarkDenmark Denmark
Swimming style (s) : chest
Birthday: July 18, 1924
Place of birth: Skovshoved
Date of death: March 9, 2011
Place of death: Mount Laurel
Medal table
Medals

Inge Sørensen (born July 18, 1924 in Skovshoved , † March 9, 2011 in Mount Laurel , New Jersey , United States ) was a Danish swimmer .

Career

Inge Sørensen (center) 1936

Inge Sørensen started swimming at the Danish Women's Gymnastics Association in Copenhagen at the age of eight and achieved her national breakthrough at the age of eleven when she achieved very good breaststroke times.

She won the bronze medal in the 200 m breaststroke at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin . At this point she was 12 years and 24 days old. She was the youngest participant in Berlin and is still the youngest medal winner in an individual competition at the Olympic Games . Their participation sparked a debate in Denmark which led to the setting of a new age limit of 16 for participating in the Olympic Games.

On their return to Denmark, Sørensen and the silver medalist in the 400m freestyle , Ragnhild Hveger , were greeted enthusiastically by thousands of people at Copenhagen's Enghave train station. Inge Sørensen was named Danish Sportsman of the Year 1936 by the Danish daily Politiken . In 2009 she presented her trophy as a souvenir to swimmer Rikke Møller Pedersen , who was voted Sportswoman of the Year 2009.

In 1938 she was also European champion in the 200 m breaststroke. She also won nine Danish championships between 1936 and 1944 and was Nordic champion in 1937 and 1939. She set 14 Danish records in the 200-, 400- and 500-meter breaststroke and in 1941 became the first Danish swimmer to swim for 3 minutes in the 200-meter breaststroke. She set three world records; In 1937 she set a world record over 500 m breasts with a time of 8: 01.9 minutes, which she improved to 7: 58.8 minutes in 1939. With a time of 6: 16.1 minutes, she also held the world record for the 400 m chest. The Second World War deprived her of the opportunity to participate in the Olympic Games and the European Swimming Championships in 1942.

Away from sport

Inge Sørensen, Hideko Maehata , Martha Genenger at the award ceremony in 1936

During the German occupation of Denmark in World War II , Inge Sørensen had star status in Denmark. This status made them attractive to both the occupying power and the resistance movement for propaganda purposes. The image of 12-year-old Inge Sørensen, who did not come from the podium at the 1936 Olympic Games, was used by the resistance movement as an example of the Danish resistance.

After the war Inge Sørensen trained as a sports teacher and then taught gymnastics and swimming. She worked temporarily as a swimming coach in Sweden. After she married the engineer Janus Tabur in 1948, the couple settled first in South Africa, then in Canada and in 1951 in the USA. She lived in the Mount Laurel , New Jersey township until her death in 2011 .

Web links

Commons : Inge Sørensen  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Politiken of March 11, 2011 , accessed April 25, 2011 (Danish)
  2. ↑ Godt nyt sportsår! Michaels mening - Team Danmark direktørens blog - December 31, 2009
  3. ↑ Medieformede sportsstjerner - Nemme ofre for propaganda?
personal data
SURNAME Sørensen, Inge
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish swimmer
DATE OF BIRTH July 18, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Skovshoved
DATE OF DEATH March 9, 2011
Place of death Mount Laurel , New Jersey , United States