American champion Eleanor Holm trained on champagne!

by A.C. de Silva

Olympic Games .... The Berlin Olympics of 1936 produced some startling performances and according to the views of some, it was the making or the breaking of American athlete Eleanor Holm. The Games ended her international career on a note of scandal. But yet they paved the ways to fame and fortune in the land of show business.When the American Olympic team boarded the S.S. Manhattan in late July, for the voyage across the Atlantic, Eleanor Holm had been the prime target for the photographers - for two good reasons.

Firstly, she was the world record holder in the backstroke in swimming and reigning Olympic champion. Secondly, she was the most glamorous member of the squad - a girl who had been eyed by Hollywood.

It was her misfortune that Avery Brundage should have been the President of the American Olympic Committee, for there was no love lost between themBrundage was a stickler for the strict interpretation of the amateur code. Two years earlier, he had tried to have Miss Holm's amateur status taken away.At this period of time, the team travelled third-class across the Atlantic. When Eleanor attempted to get a first-class cabin by paying the difference he blocked the move.

Riotous party

The American Olympic Committee had declared itself responsible for the team's passage that included social and welfare, through adequate chaperonage. The team members had been earned to refrain from smoking and the use of intoxicating drinks.

The press reporters had asked Eleanor Holm for the secret of her success, and she had answered: "Cigarettes and champagne". Brundage was not at all amused. On the first night of the voyage, she joined the journalists in the first-class bar - and they got had a riotus party.

For that, she received an official reprimand and a warning as to her future conduct. She remained unrepentant - and the scene was repeated on the last night of the voyage, when the reporters threw a farewell party for her.

The American Olympic committee had an emergency two-hour meeting, and Brundage announced to the press: "This is no joyride, and several members of the team have fallen short of the high standards expected from them, Miss Elearnor Holm in particular.

Seven records

"In her case, we have considered all the possible grounds for leniency and found none. Consequently, she is suspended, as of now, from the American Olympic team."

Eleanor Holm was very popular with her team mates, and 220 of them promptly signed a petition urging her reinstatement. The athlete concerned promised that she will never touch another drop of champagne again if she is given another chance.But Brundage was not the kind of official who would change his mind. She was banned not only from Olympic competition in either Europe or the United States. So, the potential winner of the 100 metres Backstroke didn't even get her chance of swimming.

Eleanor Holm won no less than 29 American championships and set seven world backstroke records. At the age of 14, she had finished fifth in the 1928 Olympic Games.

At 18, she had won the Olympics in Los Angeles, with a time that clipped almost three seconds off the previous record. And she was so far ahead of her time that her American national records remained unbeaten for more then 16 years. Following Berlin, she had accomplished all her efforts in hitting the top. She had always had the glamor. Now she had the added spice of starlight and fame that reached out far beyond the swimming pools. By October 1936, she was earning 2,500 dollars a week touring in a money earning spree.

In the summer of 1937, she came into the showbiz work and starred in an Aquacade, produced by master showman and millionaire Billy Rose, linking with former champions and Tarzans, Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe in a series of highly successful aqua shows.

World's best

Though she was banned, Eleanor Holm tried desperately to come back into swimming and her amateur status so that she be able to swim for her country at the Tokyo Olympics of 1940.

Though she tried desperately to get into big-time swimming, the war intervened to wash out the Olympics - and the last hope of Eleanor Holm.