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{{Short description|American swimmer (born 1945)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox swimmer
{{Infobox swimmer
| name = Nina Harmer
| name = Nina Harmer
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| fullname = Nina Adams Harmer
| fullname = Nina Adams Harmer
| nicknames =
| nicknames =
| national_team = {{USA}}
| national_team = United States
| strokes = [[Backstroke]]
| strokes = [[Backstroke]]
| club = [[Vesper Boat Club]]
| club = [[Vesper Boat Club]]
| coach = [[Mary Freeman (swimmer)|Mary Freeman Kelly]]
| collegeteam =
| collegeteam =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1945|12|11|mf=y}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1945|12|11|mf=y}}
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}}
}}


'''Nina Adams Harmer''' (born December 11, 1945), also known by her married name '''Nina Thompson''', is an American former competition [[swimming (sport)|swimmer]] and [[Pan American Games]] gold medalist.
'''Nina Adams Harmer''' (born December 11, 1945), also known by her married name '''Nina Thompson''', is an American former competition [[swimming (sport)|swimmer]], two-time Olympian, and [[Pan American Games]] gold medalist.


Harmer was born in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], and trained with the Vesper Boat Club in Philadelphia.<ref name=sroprofile>Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes, [http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ha/nina-harmer-1.html Nina Harmer]. Retrieved October 14, 2012.</ref> As a 14-year-old, she represented the United States at the [[1960 Summer Olympics]] in Rome.<ref name=sroprofile/> She competed in the [[Swimming at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre backstroke|women's 100-meter backstroke]], but did not advance beyond the preliminary heats.<ref name=sroprofile/>
Harmer was born in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], and trained with the Vesper Boat Club in Philadelphia under Hall of Fame Coach [[Mary Freeman (swimmer)|Mary Freeman Kelly]], who had started the program in 1955.<ref name=sroprofile>Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes, [https://web.archive.org/web/20200418113928/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ha/nina-harmer-1.html Nina Harmer]. Retrieved October 14, 2012.</ref>


== National swimming career highlights ==
⚫
At the [[1963 Pan American Games]] in São Paulo, Brazil, she won the gold medal in the women's 100-meter backstroke.<ref>Canadian Press-Associated Press, "[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hddUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SjwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6953,5511315&dq=nina-harmer+olympics&hl=en B.C. Oarsmen Take Gold Medal]," ''The Leader-Post'' (April 29, 1963). Retrieved October 22, 2012.</ref><ref>HickokSports.com, Sports History, [http://www.hickoksports.com/history/panamwswim.shtml Pan American Games Women's Swimming Medalists]. Retrieved October 22, 2012.</ref>
At the August 1961 Women's Swimming and Diving Championships in Philadelphia, she won both the 100 and 200-meter backstroke events, as well as swimming as a member of the 400-meter freestyle relay.<ref>"LA Girl Swim Star", ''The San Francisco Examiner'', San Francisco, California, 14 August 1961, pg. 50</ref> On August 22, 1963, while swimming with the Vesper Boat Club, she lowered the National AAU record in the 100-yard backstroke a full second to 1:04.2 at the Badger Swim Club Water Carnival Meet in Larchmont, New York.<ref name=Larchmont/>


Summarizing her career, between 1961 and 1965 she won eight national swimming championships, consisting of four individual and four relays.<ref name=Springside>{{cite web|url=https://www.sch.org/article/hall-of-fame-profiles/~board/hall-of-fame/post/nina-harmar-thomas-63|title=Nina Harmar Thompson '63|publisher=Springside Chestnut Hill Academy|access-date=2023-09-27}}</ref> By 1963, she had been a National AAU backstroke champion four times.<ref name=Larchmont>"Seven U.S. Swim Records Bettered", ''The Standard-Star'', New Rochelle, New York, 23 August 1963, pg. 22</ref>
⚫
A year later at the [[1964 Summer Olympics]] in Tokyo, Japan, Harmer swam for the gold medal-winning U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the [[Swimming at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 100 metre medley relay|women's 4×100-meter medley relay]].<ref>Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, [http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/countries/USA/summer/1964/SWI/ United States Swimming at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games]. Retrieved October 20, 2012.</ref> She did not receive a medal under the 1964 international swimming rules because she did not swim in the relay event final. Individually, she also competed in the [[Swimming at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre backstroke|women's 100-meter backstroke]], finishing fifth in the event final with a time of 1:09.4, behind American teammates [[Cathy Ferguson]] (first), and [[Ginny Duenkel]] (third).<ref name=sroprofile/><ref>Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Swimming at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games, [http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1964/SWI/womens-100-metres-backstroke-final.html Women's 100 metres Backstroke Final]. Retrieved October 20, 2012.</ref>

=='60 Rome Olympics==
As a 14-year-old, she represented the United States at the [[1960 Summer Olympics]] in Rome.<ref name=sroprofile/> She competed in the [[Swimming at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre backstroke|women's 100-meter backstroke]], but did not advance beyond the preliminary heats. Swimming a 1:13.8, she had the 15th fastest time of all the preliminary swimmers.<ref name=sroprofile/><ref name=Olympedia/>

===63 Pan Am games===
⚫
At the [[1963 Pan American Games]] in São Paulo, Brazil, she won the gold medal in the women's 100-meter backstroke.<ref>Canadian Press-Associated Press, "[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hddUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SjwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6953,5511315&dq=nina-harmer+olympics&hl=en B.C. Oarsmen Take Gold Medal]," ''The Leader-Post'' (April 29, 1963). Retrieved October 22, 2012.</ref><ref>HickokSports.com, Sports History, [http://www.hickoksports.com/history/panamwswim.shtml Pan American Games Women's Swimming Medalists] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20121205080750/http://www.hickoksports.com/history/panamwswim.shtml |date=2012-12-05 }}. Retrieved October 22, 2012.</ref>

===High school graduation===
In 1963, she graduated [[Springside Chestnut Hill Academy]], an old and well-established Co-ed independent college preparatory day school in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She married by the age of twenty.<ref name=Springside/> In August 1965, she demonstrated the Backstroke at the Badger Sports Club Water Carnival in Larchmont, New York, outside Mamaronek.<ref>"Colins and Geoghegan Bust U.S. Swim Marks", ''The Daily Times'', Mamaronek, New York, 24 August 1965, pg. 33</ref>

=='64 Tokyo Olympics==
=== 4x100 medley relay ===
⚫
A year later at the [[1964 Summer Olympics]] in Tokyo, Japan, Harmer swam for the gold medal-winning U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the [[Swimming at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 100 metre medley relay|women's 4×100-meter medley relay]].<ref>Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, [https://web.archive.org/web/20200417044041/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/countries/USA/summer/1964/SWI/ United States Swimming at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games]. Retrieved October 20, 2012.</ref> She did not receive a medal under the 1964 international swimming rules because she did not swim in the relay event final.<ref name=Olympedia>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/51048|title=Nina Harmer, Olympedia Bio|publisher=Olympedia|access-date=2023-09-27}}</ref>

=== Women's 100-meter backstroke ===
Individually, she also competed in the [[Swimming at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre backstroke|women's 100-meter backstroke]], finishing fifth in the event final with a time of 1:09.4, and though it was her best record time, she finished behind American teammates [[Cathy Ferguson]] (first), and [[Ginny Duenkel]] (third).<ref name=sroprofile/><ref>Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Swimming at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games, [https://web.archive.org/web/20200417063605/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1964/SWI/womens-100-metres-backstroke-final.html Women's 100 metres Backstroke Final]. Retrieved October 20, 2012.</ref><ref>Her best time in "Golden Ripples Sparkle Olympic Pool", ''Portland Press Herald'', Portland, Oregon, 15 October 1964, pg. 39</ref>

===Post-Olympic competition===
She continued to swim after the Olympics, and at the Senior Women's AAU Swimming Championships in April, 1966, while still swimming for the Vesper Boat Club she helped set a record of 4:06.0 for the 440-yard medley relay with teammates [[Jane Barkman]], Lee Davis and [[Martha Randall]].<ref>"Vesper Streaks to AAU Record", ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 16 Apr 1966, pg. 23</ref>

Swimming with the District of Columbia Masters in her late twenties, she was a United States Masters All American swimmer with first place age group finishes in backstroke and medley events in both 1974 and 1975 and was nationally ranked with 16 top ten age group swims from 1974 to 1976.<ref name=USMS>{{cite web|url=https://www.usms.org/comp/aa/indaa.php?SwimmerID=005P5|title=Individual All American Listings for Nina Thompson, United States Masters Swimming|publisher=United States Masters Swimming|access-date=2023-09-27}}</ref>

In the late 1980s she was living in the Maryland area, around Dorchester County where she had formerly swum for D.C. and Maryland Masters Swimming, and may have served as an area director and volunteer for Maryland's Spring Midshore Special Olympics held at Cambridge South Dorchester High School in April 1989.<ref>Dean, Gail, "Area Special Olympians Compete", ''The Star-Democrat'', Easton, Maryland, 17 April 1989, pg. 1</ref><ref name=USMS/>

==Honors==
In 1995, she was inducted into the Springside Hill Academy Athletic Hall of Fame.<ref name=Springside/> Her primary youth coach Mary Freeman Kelly Spitzer said that one of her greatest qualities, "was that even while she was very young, she maintained a balanced perspective on her activities and interests." Despite her demanding swimming career, "she had also her allegiance to her school life..but she more than managed to keep afloat in both worlds without drowning.”<ref name=Springside/>


==References==
==References==
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==External links==
==External links==
* {{SR/Olympics profile|ha/nina-harmer-1}}
* [http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ha/nina-harmer-1.html Nina Harmer] – Olympic athlete profile at Sports-Reference.com


{{Footer USA Swimming 1960 Summer Olympics}}
{{Footer USA Swimming 1960 Summer Olympics}}
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[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American female backstroke swimmers]]
[[Category:American female backstroke swimmers]]
[[Category:Olympic swimmers of the United States]]
[[Category:Swimmers from Philadelphia]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Philadelphia]]
[[Category:Swimmers at the 1960 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Swimmers at the 1960 Summer Olympics]]
⚫
[[Category:Swimmers at the 1963 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Swimmers at the 1964 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Swimmers at the 1964 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic swimmers for the United States]]

⚫
[[Category:Swimmers at the 1963 Pan American Games]]

[[Category:Medalists at the 1963 Pan American Games]]
{{US-swimming-bio-stub}}
[[Category:Pan American Games gold medalists]]
[[Category:Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in swimming]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportswomen]]

Latest revision as of 22:19, 18 October 2024

Nina Harmer
Personal information
Full nameNina Adams Harmer
National teamUnited States
Born (1945-12-11) December 11, 1945 (age 79)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Height5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Weight141 lb (64 kg)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesBackstroke
ClubVesper Boat Club
CoachMary Freeman Kelly
Medal record
Women's swimming
Representing the United States
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place 1963 São Paulo 100 m backstroke

Nina Adams Harmer (born December 11, 1945), also known by her married name Nina Thompson, is an American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympian, and Pan American Games gold medalist.

Harmer was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and trained with the Vesper Boat Club in Philadelphia under Hall of Fame Coach Mary Freeman Kelly, who had started the program in 1955.[1]

National swimming career highlights

[edit]

At the August 1961 Women's Swimming and Diving Championships in Philadelphia, she won both the 100 and 200-meter backstroke events, as well as swimming as a member of the 400-meter freestyle relay.[2] On August 22, 1963, while swimming with the Vesper Boat Club, she lowered the National AAU record in the 100-yard backstroke a full second to 1:04.2 at the Badger Swim Club Water Carnival Meet in Larchmont, New York.[3]

Summarizing her career, between 1961 and 1965 she won eight national swimming championships, consisting of four individual and four relays.[4] By 1963, she had been a National AAU backstroke champion four times.[3]

'60 Rome Olympics

[edit]

As a 14-year-old, she represented the United States at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.[1] She competed in the women's 100-meter backstroke, but did not advance beyond the preliminary heats. Swimming a 1:13.8, she had the 15th fastest time of all the preliminary swimmers.[1][5]

63 Pan Am games

[edit]

At the 1963 Pan American Games in São Paulo, Brazil, she won the gold medal in the women's 100-meter backstroke.[6][7]

High school graduation

[edit]

In 1963, she graduated Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, an old and well-established Co-ed independent college preparatory day school in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She married by the age of twenty.[4] In August 1965, she demonstrated the Backstroke at the Badger Sports Club Water Carnival in Larchmont, New York, outside Mamaronek.[8]

'64 Tokyo Olympics

[edit]

4x100 medley relay

[edit]

A year later at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, Harmer swam for the gold medal-winning U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the women's 4×100-meter medley relay.[9] She did not receive a medal under the 1964 international swimming rules because she did not swim in the relay event final.[5]

Women's 100-meter backstroke

[edit]

Individually, she also competed in the women's 100-meter backstroke, finishing fifth in the event final with a time of 1:09.4, and though it was her best record time, she finished behind American teammates Cathy Ferguson (first), and Ginny Duenkel (third).[1][10][11]

Post-Olympic competition

[edit]

She continued to swim after the Olympics, and at the Senior Women's AAU Swimming Championships in April, 1966, while still swimming for the Vesper Boat Club she helped set a record of 4:06.0 for the 440-yard medley relay with teammates Jane Barkman, Lee Davis and Martha Randall.[12]

Swimming with the District of Columbia Masters in her late twenties, she was a United States Masters All American swimmer with first place age group finishes in backstroke and medley events in both 1974 and 1975 and was nationally ranked with 16 top ten age group swims from 1974 to 1976.[13]

In the late 1980s she was living in the Maryland area, around Dorchester County where she had formerly swum for D.C. and Maryland Masters Swimming, and may have served as an area director and volunteer for Maryland's Spring Midshore Special Olympics held at Cambridge South Dorchester High School in April 1989.[14][13]

Honors

[edit]

In 1995, she was inducted into the Springside Hill Academy Athletic Hall of Fame.[4] Her primary youth coach Mary Freeman Kelly Spitzer said that one of her greatest qualities, "was that even while she was very young, she maintained a balanced perspective on her activities and interests." Despite her demanding swimming career, "she had also her allegiance to her school life..but she more than managed to keep afloat in both worlds without drowning.”[4]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes, Nina Harmer. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
  2. ^ "LA Girl Swim Star", The San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco, California, 14 August 1961, pg. 50
  3. ^ a b "Seven U.S. Swim Records Bettered", The Standard-Star, New Rochelle, New York, 23 August 1963, pg. 22
  4. ^ a b c d "Nina Harmar Thompson '63". Springside Chestnut Hill Academy. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  5. ^ a b "Nina Harmer, Olympedia Bio". Olympedia. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  6. ^ Canadian Press-Associated Press, "B.C. Oarsmen Take Gold Medal," The Leader-Post (April 29, 1963). Retrieved October 22, 2012.
  7. ^ HickokSports.com, Sports History, Pan American Games Women's Swimming Medalists Archived 2012-12-05 at archive.today. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
  8. ^ "Colins and Geoghegan Bust U.S. Swim Marks", The Daily Times, Mamaronek, New York, 24 August 1965, pg. 33
  9. ^ Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, United States Swimming at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
  10. ^ Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Swimming at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games, Women's 100 metres Backstroke Final. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
  11. ^ Her best time in "Golden Ripples Sparkle Olympic Pool", Portland Press Herald, Portland, Oregon, 15 October 1964, pg. 39
  12. ^ "Vesper Streaks to AAU Record", The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 16 Apr 1966, pg. 23
  13. ^ a b "Individual All American Listings for Nina Thompson, United States Masters Swimming". United States Masters Swimming. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  14. ^ Dean, Gail, "Area Special Olympians Compete", The Star-Democrat, Easton, Maryland, 17 April 1989, pg. 1
[edit]
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