Brenda Helser
![]() Helser in 1948 | ||||||||||||
Personal information | ||||||||||||
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Full name | Brenda Mersereau Helser | |||||||||||
National team | ![]() | |||||||||||
Born | San Francisco, California, U.S.[1] | May 26, 1924|||||||||||
Died | March 26, 2001[2] | (aged 76)|||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||
Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||
Strokes | Freestyle | |||||||||||
Club | Multnomah Athletic Club, Los Angeles Athletic Club | |||||||||||
Coach | Jack Cody | |||||||||||
Medal record
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Brenda Mersereau Helser (May 26, 1924 – March 26, 2001), later known by her married name Brenda Helser de Morelos, was an American former competition swimmer who won a gold medal in the women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. A graduate of Stanford University, de Morelos grew up in Oregon where she graduated from Lincoln High School. Her swim coach was International Swimming Hall of Fame member Jack Cody. Along with fellow 1948 Olympians Suzanne Zimmerman and Nancy Merki, Helser was part of the Multnomah Athletic Club team dubbed "Cody's Kids" that from 1939 to 1948, won 58 individual national swimming titles and three national team swimming championships.[3]
After her retirement from competition swimming, Helser married the Comte de Morelos, a French nobleman, and became the Comtesse de Morelos y Guerrero.[3] She was a member of the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame.
See also
References
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Brenda Helser". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020.
- ^ "Brenda Helser's obituary". Archived from the original on July 9, 2018. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
- ^ a b Schneidermann, Floyd (August 19, 1990). "Swimmers Reunited at Coach's Induction into State Sports Hall". The Oregonian.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- 1924 births
- 2001 deaths
- American female freestyle swimmers
- Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming
- Swimmers from Portland, Oregon
- Stanford University alumni
- Swimmers at the 1948 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics
- 20th-century American women
- 20th-century American people
- American swimming Olympic medalist stubs