January 12, 1959 - Helen Vanderburg Shaw - a podcast by Stephen Hammond

Synchronized swimmer Helen Vanderburg Shaw is born in Calgary, Alberta. Helen Vanderburg Shaw was born in Calgary, Alberta on January 12, 1959. From an early age, she showed amazing talent as a synchronized swimmer. In 1973, Vanderburg Shaw won the Canadian Junior Championships; in 1977 she took first place at the Pan Pacific Games and earned six gold medals at the Canadian Championships. But Calgary’s phenomenal teen swimmer was just warming up. In 1978 at the World Aquatic Games in Berlin, she became the first Canadian to win the World Championships, taking gold medals in both the solo and duet events. In fact, with partner Michelle Caulkins, she was the first non-American to win both events in the same competition. She repeated her win the next year at the 1979 Pan Am Games in Puerto Rico, and at the International Swimming Federation (FINA) World Cup in Tokyo. Vanderburg Shaw was elected Canada’s Female Athlete of the Year in both 1978 and 1979. She was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 1980, and into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1983. In 1979, at the tender age of 20, Vanderburg Shaw retired from professional sport and earned a degree in physical education. She’s now a businesswoman in the physical fitness industry.

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