Passages: Ann Lallande, Pioneering Puerto Rican Olympic Swimmer, Age 72

Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant

Passages: Ann Lallande, Pioneering Puerto Rican Olympic Swimmer, Age 72

Ann Lallande, who represented Puerto Rico at continental competitions and the 1964 Olympic Games, died on Dec. 19, 2021, after complications from surgery. She was 72 years old.

Her death was confirmed by family this week. Lallande, who also went by Anita Lallande when she competed, won 17 swimming medals at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games, the most ever by a Puerto Rican swimmer. Puerto Rican Swimming Federation president Fernando Delgado Sellas called Lallande one of the “pioneers of our sport.”

El 19 de dic de 2021 falleció la reina de los X Juegos CAC de San Juan 1966, Anita Lallande ganó 10 oros y 2 bronce en la natación. En 2 Juegos CAC acumuló 17 preseas (10-3-4), estuvo en 2 Juegos PANAM, en los JO Tokio 1964, la mayor figura de la natación boricua en la historia pic.twitter.com/MbyM8ZGL0E

— Carlos Uriarte (@uriartecarlos1) January 2, 2022

Lallande was born in San Juan and began swimming at age eight at Caparra Country Club. She began competing internationally at age 13.

At 15, she was one of only two female athletes to represent the island at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Both were swimmers, together with Margaret Harding, to become the first Olympic swimmers in Puerto Rican history. Lallande swam the 100-meter freestyle, 400 freestyle and 100 butterfly, not escaping the heats in any event. Her best result was a fifth-place finish in her seven-swimmer heat of the 400.

Lallande also swam in the 1963 and 1967 Pan American Games, winning a relay bronze medal at the latter in the 400 free relay. Her star turn, though, was when San Juan hosted the 1966 CAC Games. Lallande won eight individual events (100, 200, 400 and 800 free; 100 and 200 backstroke; and 100 and 200 fly). She also finished third in both individual medleys to Harding and added two relays golds.

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Including her performance at the 1962 CAC Games in Kingston, Jamaica, Lallande totaled 17 medals (10 gold, three silver, four bronze). According to her obituary, she went by the nickname “La Lancha,” “the motorboat.”

That energy carried over to Lallande’s post-swimming career. She retired in the late 1960s, received her degree from Marymount College in New York and briefly taught junior high in Puerto Rico. She married Robert C. Giffen III, a naval officer, and began a career in journalism as both a staffer and freelancer while raising two children. She late served as a consultant to Carlos Romero Barcelo, Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner to Congress from 1993-2001. The family remained in the Washington, D.C., area, settling in Annapolis.

Ann Lallande is survived by her husband of 41 years, children Kyle and Nicole, three grandchildren and one sister.

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