Katherine Rawls
Rawls (right) at 1936 Olympics
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Katherine Louise Rawls | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | "Katy," "The Minnow" | |||||||||||||||||||||
| National team |
 United States
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| Born |
June 14, 1917 Nashville, Tennessee |
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| Died | April 8, 1982 (aged 64) White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia |
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| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Freestyle, springboard diving | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Miami Beach Swimming Club | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Katherine Louise Rawls (June 14, 1917 – April 8, 1982), also known by her married names Katherine Thompson and Katherine Green, was an American competition swimmer and diver. She was the United States national champion in multiple events during the 1930s.
Rawls was born in Nashville, Tennessee. She learned to swim at the age of two, in Saint Augustine, Florida, and took up diving at the age of seven in Tampa, from a 25-foot (7.6m) platform. During her swimming career she was sometimes called Katy Rawls and nicknamed The Minnow. Her sisters Dorothy (later Mrs. Williams), and Evelyn (McKee), were also Florida state champion swimmers, and the siblings were known collectively as "Rawls' Diving Trio". Together with sister Peggy (Wedgworth) and brother Sonny, a champion diver, the children went to junior contests and exhibitions, as "Rawls' Water Babies".
Rawls caused a sensation at the 1931 U.S. National Championships aged just 14, when she beat star Eleanor Holm in the 300m individual medley in a new world record, and the next day beat champion Margaret Hoffman in the 220yds breaststroke.
Rawls moved from Hollywood, Florida to Fort Lauderdale in 1932. She received sponsorship from Miami Beach to attend the trials for the 1932 Olympics, and was sometimes misidentified with that city. At the trials, she surprisingly failed to qualify in the 200m-meter breaststroke: told by her coach to conserve her strength and aim for the third and last qualifying spot, she narrowly finished fourth. After her loss, she rowed across to the springboard diving, where she surprisingly beat champion Georgia Coleman. She scratched from the high diving because of high winds. She finished second to Coleman at the Olympics.
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