Georgia Coleman

Biography

Champion diver Georgia Coleman was born on January 23, 1912 in St. Maries, Idaho. Georgia had been diving for only six months when she made the 1928 Olympic team at age sixteen. Coleman won both a bronze medal in women's springboard diving and a silver medal in women's platform diving at the 1928 Olympics. Georgia went on to win a gold medal in women's springboard diving and a second silver medal in women's platform diving at the 1932 Olympics. She was the first female athlete to perform a 2 1/2 forward somersault in competition. Moreover, Coleman won every U.S. national title in 1929 and was beaten only once in the next four years. In addition, Georgia won a total of eleven Amateur Athletic Union championships while competing for the Los Angeles Athletic Club. Coleman contracted polio in 1937, but learned to swim again prior to her death from pneumonia at the tragically young age of twenty-eight on September 14, 1940.