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Albina Osipowich
	Osipowich in 1928
Personal information
Full name	Albina Lucy Charlotte Osipowich
National team	United States
Born	February 26, 1911; Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	June 6, 1964 (aged 53)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle
Club	Boys' Club Auxiliary
College team	Brown University (Pembroke College)
Medal record
Women's swimming
Representing the United States
Olympic Games

Albina Lucy Charlotte Osipowich (February 26, 1911 – June 6, 1964), later known by her married name Albina Van Aken, was an American competition swimmer for Brown University and a 1928 Olympic champion. Osipowich won gold medals in the women's 100-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter freestyle relay at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, setting world records in both events.^[1]

Albina Osipowich was born February 26, 1911 to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Osipowich in Worcester, Massachusetts.^[2] In her youth, she began swimming against the boys at the Worcester Boy's Club, and it was soon discovered she was faster than the boys in the sprint distances. With her exceptional times by the age of 17, she was selected for the U.S. Women's Olympic team to compete in Amsterdam.^[3]

1928 Olympics

At the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Osipowich won gold medals in the women's 100-meter freestyle with a time of 1:11 and the 4×100-meter freestyle relay in a combined time of 4:47.6, another world record. ^[1]

In 1928,she held long course American records in the 200 220, and 100-yard freestyle. She was also the recipient of two National American Athletic Union titles in the 100 and 220 freestyle in 1928. Though highly recognized for a short period, her swimming career did not extend long after her 17th birthday.^[4]

Brown University

As a result of her achievement in the 1928 Olympics, the town fathers of Worcester offered her a college scholarship to the University of her choice, and she chose Pembroke, now Brown University. Starting Pembroke in the the Fall of 1929 after receiving a $4000 scholarship, she could not swim on the Men's varsity team and sent a letter to the Brown Men's swimming Coach Barry requesting to swim and train with Brown's top male sprinters including Ray Hall. As Osipowich could only train one or two days a week with Pembroke's women's team, she requested to train with the men's team to retain her elite training and conditioning. Several newspapers reported in December 1929, she was retiring from competitive swimming, but this applied only to national competition, as she did plan at the time to defend her New England titles in more regional meets.^[5]^[6] She swam with the Women's team in the 1929-30 season defeating Radcliffe and Wheaton, winning the 60-yard dash in 36.1, and taking second in the 40-yard breaststroke by finishing only inches behind the winner who swam a 35.4. She also swam anchor on the winning freestyle relay.^[7] Around her Junior year, she captained the Pembroke swimming team in its successful 1931-32 season.^[8] She planned to swim into the 1932-1933 season, but was unable as a result of a ruptured appendix. The 1932-3 season had recruited Jean Sheehy, and Lisa Lindstrom, a 1928 U.S. Women's Olympic participant in the backstroke. Both had swum for the Women's Swimming Association (WSA) of New York founded by Charlotte Epstein. In 1933, Osipowich graduated from Pembroke College (Brown University) in Providence, Rhode Island, where she played field hockey and continued swimming.^[9]

Albina's brother Osipowich was a varsity swimmer for Worcester Tech, and won the preliminary heat of the 440-yard event in a record time of 5:43 at the 1930 Intercollegiate Championships at the Bowdoin Pool.^[10]

On October 17, 1936, she married 1936 Brown graduate Harrison Van Aken Jr. in Chicago. Van Aken had played basketball two years for the University, and worked for Chicago's Continental Bank and Trust Company. At the time of her wedding, Osipowich was working as a Director for Rhode Island's activities for women for the National Youth Administration.^[1]^[11] ^[12] She later worked as a buyer for a department store.

Honors

Osipowich was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as a Pioneer swimmer.^[4]

The Brown Athletic Hall of Fame includes Albina Osipowich Van Aken '33, inducted in 1984.^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes, Albina Osipowich. Retrieved November 23, 2012.
^ "Former Olympian Swim Star Bride in Chicago", The Boston Globe, Boston, Massachusetts, 19 October 1936, pg. 3
^ ^a ^b "Albina Osipowich Van Aken (1984) - Hall of Fame". Brown University Athletics. Archived from the original on February 3, 2020. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
^ ^a ^b "International Swimming Hall of Fame, Albina Osipowich". ishof.org. Retrieved December 7, 2024.
^ "Miss Osipowich Prefers Honors in College to Swimming Titles", The Boston Globe, Boston, Massachusetts, 25 December 1929
^ "May Swim for Varsity", The Evening News, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 15 November 1929, pg. 27
^ "Pembroke Swimmers Win the Brown Meet", The Boston Globe, Boston, Massachusetts, March 1930, pg. 10
^ "Lady Athletes Work for Games", The Spokesman Review, Spokane, Washington, 26 April 1932, page 12
^ "Woman Champion After Swim Berth", The Courier News, Bridgewater, New Jersey, 7 October 1929, pg. 20
^ "Worcester Tech Star Wins Heat", The Boston Globe, Boston, Massachusetts, 15 March 1930, pg. 10
^ "Olympic Champ to Wed Brown Graduate", Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine, 28 September 1936, page 1
^ "Women's History Month 2019: Albina Osipowich '33, Women's Swimming". Brown University Athletics. March 7, 2019. Archived from the original on February 3, 2020. Retrieved February 3, 2020.

External links

Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Albina Osipowich". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020.
Albina Osipowich (USA) – Honor Swimmer profile at International Swimming Hall of Fame

Records
Preceded by Eleanor Garatti	Women's 100-meter freestyle world record-holder (long course) August 25, 1929 – March 14, 1930	Succeeded by Helene Madison