Nan Gindele

Nan Gindele Bauman (August 5, 1910 – March 26, 1992) was an American athlete, a javelin thrower who competed in the 1932 Summer Olympics, the first year that javelin was a women's event at the Olympics.

Early life

Ferdinanda Kathryn "Nan" Gindele was born in Chicago, Illinois. She trained as a teacher the Chicago Normal School of Physical Education and Northwestern University.^[1][2]

Career in sports

Nan Gindele taught physical education in Chicago schools, and was a member of the Illinois Women's Athletic Club. Gindele was the national title holder for basketball throw from 1933^[3] to 1936. She set the javelin world record in 1932, at a meet in Chicago, four weeks before the Olympic trials. That record was not broken until 1942.^[1]

At the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 1932, Gindele placed fifth in javelin; her teammate Mildred Didrikson took the gold medal.^[4] Of her fifth-place finish, she told an interviewer later in life, "I was 22, and that was the farthest I’d ever traveled. I was almost too frightened to compete, but I told myself, 'Oh, for goodness sake, just do your best. Just you stand there, even if you don’t want to do this.'"^[5]

She competed in the National Track Games in Madison Square Garden in 1933.^[6] Although she was mentioned as a possible competitor at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, and she was still the world record holder for women's javelin,^[7][8] Gindele did not qualify, edged out of qualifying by Gertrude Wilhelmsen.

Personal life

Nan Gindele married and had twin sons. Nan Gindele Bauman died in 1992, aged 81 years, in Barrington, Illinois.^[5]

References