{"id":290853,"date":"2018-01-04T04:00:38","date_gmt":"2018-01-04T11:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=290853"},"modified":"2018-01-03T16:29:19","modified_gmt":"2018-01-03T23:29:19","slug":"swimming-world-presents-the-greatest-american-woman-swimmer-youve-never-heard-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/swimming-world-presents-the-greatest-american-woman-swimmer-youve-never-heard-of\/","title":{"rendered":"Swimming World Presents &#8220;The Greatest American Woman Swimmer You&#8217;ve Never Heard Of!&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>The Greatest American Woman Swimmer You&#8217;ve Never Heard Of<\/h2>\n<p>She\u2019s not in the International Swimming Hall of Fame. Until recently, the Hall didn\u2019t even have a file on her. Yet for most of the decade of the 1940s, <strong>Nancy Merki<\/strong> was the most famous female competitive swimmer in America.<\/p>\n<p>Merki was a fighter from early in life, suffering from infantile paralysis, but she overcame it and at the age of 10 won her first swimming race. She would go on to break her first American record at the age of 13 in the 400 freestyle, however she never got a chance to swim in an Olympic Games due to World War II.<\/p>\n<p>She was nominated multiples for the James E. Sullivan awards as the nation&#8217;s outstanding amateur athlete and was a large supporter of the &#8220;March of Dimes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about Merki and all of her accomplishments, check out the January 2018 issue of\u00a0<em>Swimming World Magazine<\/em>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/issues\/2018\" target=\"_blank\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/issues\/2018&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1515036115580000&amp;usg=AFQjCNErVxDriM4F0j-KlI5m8QQIyPRZWw\">available now!<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"290318\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/canadas-kylie-masse-lights-up-swimming-worlds-january-2018-cover\/jan-18-cover\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/jan-18-cover.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"660,888\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"jan-18-cover\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;jan-18-cover&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;January 2018 issue&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/jan-18-cover-660x500.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/jan-18-cover.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-290318 \" src=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/jan-18-cover.jpg\" alt=\"jan-18-cover\" width=\"486\" height=\"654\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/jan-18-cover.jpg 660w, https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/jan-18-cover-533x717.jpg 533w, https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/jan-18-cover-149x200.jpg 149w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 486px) 100vw, 486px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>[PHOTO BY SIPA USA]<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Get\u00a0<em>Swimming World Magazine<\/em>\u00a0When You\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ishof.org\/shop.html#!\/Individual-Membership\/p\/45294709\/category=11660468\" target=\"_blank\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/ishof.org\/shop.html%23!\/Individual-Membership\/p\/45294709\/category%3D11660468&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1515036115580000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHuUspGY1aD99aHJQ87e46v0YxE5w\">Become A Member of the International Swimming\u00a0Hall of Fame<\/a><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Want More?\u00a0<em>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/product\/3-year-swimming-world-magazine-total-access-subscription\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/product\/3-year-swimming-world-magazine-total-access-subscription\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1515036115580000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH8XCmZyF2bsBfTYQ-I9EdvyoQSog\">Subscribe With This Special 3-Year Offer!<\/a>\u00a0Swimming World Magazine<\/em>\u00a0gives you access to all of the back issues of\u00a0<em>Swimming World Magazine<\/em>\u00a0dating back to 1960!\u00a0 Visit the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/issues\/2017\" target=\"_blank\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/issues\/2017&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1515036115580000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF-ABL_-X8vquSB9O3_sdRr-9k7vw\">Swimming World Magazine Vault<\/a>.<\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Order a single \u201cCollectors\u201d issue\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/product\/swimming-world-magazine-january-2018-issue-print-edition\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/product\/swimming-world-magazine-january-2018-issue-print-edition\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1515036115580000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGhZzf7FoRseJpv_YHeAAAz17wXgg\">print copy here<\/a>\u00a0or download a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/product\/swimming-world-magazine-january-2018-issue-pdf-only\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/product\/swimming-world-magazine-january-2018-issue-pdf-only\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1515036115580000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGH_Om6TobHoM_6hXkY6eGl19bzyQ\">single .pdf copy here<\/a>.<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>FEATURES<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>018 2017 ATHLETES OF THE YEAR<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong><em>by Taylor Brien, Erin Keaveny and Michael Randazzo<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\nDiving: Shi Tingmao &amp; Ilya Zakharov<br \/>\nWater Polo: Maggie Steffens &amp; M\u00e1rton V\u00e1mos<br \/>\nSynchro: Svetlana Kolesnichenko<br \/>\nDisabled: Sophie Pascoe &amp; Vincenzo Boni<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>020 TOP 5 STORIES OF 2017<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong><em>by David Rieder<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>023 THE GREATEST AMERICAN WOMAN SWIMMER YOU\u2019VE NEVER HEARD OF!<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong><em>by Bruce Wigo<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\nShe\u2019s not in the International Swimming Hall of Fame. Until recently, the Hall didn\u2019t even have a file on her. Yet for most of the decade of the 1940s, Nancy Merki was the most famous female competitive swimmer in America.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>026 A PERFECT FIT<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong><em>by David Rieder<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\nBefore last summer\u2019s World Championships in Budapest, 15-year-old Regan Smith had doubted her place on U.S. team trips, ques\u00adtioning if she really deserved to be there. After her quick transition from wide-eyed rookie to composed and confident World Championship finalist, she knows now that she definitely belongs.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>030 MAKING AN IMPACT<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong><em>by Annie Grevers<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\nCanada\u2019s Kylie Masse is a world record holder in the 100 meter backstroke and the first Canadian female swimmer ever to win a world title, and she realizes the importance\u2014and privilege\u2014of motivat\u00ading young Canadian swimmers who now aspire to be like Kylie.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>034 2017 WORLD &amp; AMERICAN RECORD PROGRESSION<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong><em>by Taylor Brien<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>036 NUTRITION: AROUND THE TABLE WITH NATHAN ADRIAN<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong><em>by Annie Grevers and Dawn Weatherwax<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\nRaw, stragegic, consistent\u2014words that describe Nathan Adrian&#8230;and his diet! To have power, a swimmer needs premium fuel in their tank. Adrian recently shared a few typical post-practice meals with Swimming World.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>COACHING<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>010 LESSONS WITH THE LEGENDS: JACK ROACH<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong><em>by Michael J. Stott<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">013 COLLEGE RECRUITING: SOCIAL MEDIA AND EARLY COMMITMENT<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><em>by Michael J. Stott<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\nIn the third of a multi-part series, Swimming World looks at early commitments and the way social media is altering (for better or for worse) how prospects are navigating the college recruiting process.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>016 SWIMMING TECHNIQUE MISCONCEPTIONS: SCIENCE IS RISKY<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong><em>by Rod Havriluk<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\nAccording to conventional wisdom, per\u00adformance\u2014not science\u2014is the ultimate criterion measure. Unfortunately, this ap\u00adproach guarantees staying in the past and requires being satisfied with relatively small improvements. Applying science, on the other hand, may seem risky, but offers the potential for much bigger improvements much sooner.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>041 Q&amp;A WITH COACH LARS JORGENSEN<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong><em>by Michael J. Stott<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>042 HOW THEY TRAIN DANIELLE GALYER<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong><em>by Michael J. Stott<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>TRAINING<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>033 DRYSIDE TRAINING: \u201cFAST START\u201d TO THE NEW YEAR<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong><em>by J.R. Rosania<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>JUNIOR SWIMMER<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>045 UP &amp; COMERS<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong><em>by Taylor Brien<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">COLUMNS<\/span> <\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>008 A VOICE FOR THE SPORT<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>047 GUTTER TALK<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>048 PARTING SHOT<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Greatest American Woman Swimmer You&#8217;ve Never Heard Of She\u2019s not in the International Swimming Hall of Fame. Until recently, the Hall didn\u2019t even have a file on her. Yet<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":290855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,16],"tags":[1247,65382,9949,17800,65342,65381,54417],"class_list":["post-290853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-swimming-world-magazine","tag-bruce-wigo","tag-greatest-american-woman-swimmer-youve-never-heard-of","tag-international-swimming-hall-of-fame","tag-ishof","tag-january-2018","tag-nancy-merki","tag-swimming-world-magazine"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Swimming World Presents &quot;The Greatest American Woman Swimmer You&#039;ve Never Heard Of!&quot; - Swimming World<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Swimming World presents &quot;The Greatest American Woman Swimmer You&#039;ve Never Heard Of: The Story of Nancy Merki.&quot;\u00a0\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/swimming-world-presents-the-greatest-american-woman-swimmer-youve-never-heard-of\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Swimming World Presents &quot;The Greatest American Woman Swimmer You&#039;ve Never Heard Of!&quot;\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Swimming World presents &quot;The Greatest American Woman Swimmer You&#039;ve Never Heard Of: The Story of Nancy Merki.&quot;\u00a0\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/swimming-world-presents-the-greatest-american-woman-swimmer-youve-never-heard-of\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swimming World\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-04T11:00:38+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-01-03T23:29:19+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/nancy-merki-1942-e1515022066321.png\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"775\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Taylor Brien\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@swimmingworld\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@swimmingworld\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Taylor Brien\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/swimming-world-presents-the-greatest-american-woman-swimmer-youve-never-heard-of\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/swimming-world-presents-the-greatest-american-woman-swimmer-youve-never-heard-of\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Taylor Brien\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/24da59f6501b584c8ca51570b81b296d\"},\"headline\":\"Swimming World Presents &#8220;The Greatest American Woman Swimmer You&#8217;ve Never Heard Of!&#8221;\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-04T11:00:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-03T23:29:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/swimming-world-presents-the-greatest-american-woman-swimmer-youve-never-heard-of\/\"},\"wordCount\":664,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/swimming-world-presents-the-greatest-american-woman-swimmer-youve-never-heard-of\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/nancy-merki-1942-e1515022066321.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Bruce Wigo\",\"Greatest American Woman Swimmer You've Never Heard Of\",\"International Swimming Hall of Fame\",\"ISHOF\",\"January 2018\",\"Nancy Merki\",\"Swimming World Magazine\"],\"articleSection\":[\"-Home Slider\",\"Swimming World Magazine\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/swimming-world-presents-the-greatest-american-woman-swimmer-youve-never-heard-of\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/swimming-world-presents-the-greatest-american-woman-swimmer-youve-never-heard-of\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/swimming-world-presents-the-greatest-american-woman-swimmer-youve-never-heard-of\/\",\"name\":\"Swimming World Presents \\\"The Greatest American Woman Swimmer You've Never Heard Of!\\\" - 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