Beulah Gundling
Gundling in 1977
Born
Beulah Detwiler

(1916-02-13)February 13, 1916
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States
DiedOctober 1, 2003(2003-10-01) (aged 87)
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States
Occupation(s)Synchronised swimmer,
aquatic artist, choreographer, author
Years active1940-2000
SpouseHenry Gundling
Websitewww.aquatic-art.org
Beulah Gundling
Medal record
Synchronised swimming
Representing the  United States
Gold medal – first place1949 Canadian Synchronized Swimming ChampionshipsSolo
Gold medal – first place1950 U.S. National AAU Synchronized Swimming ChampionshipsSolo outdoor
Gold medal – first place1951 U.S. National AAU Synchronized Swimming ChampionshipsSolo outdoor
Gold medal – first place1952 U.S. National AAU Synchronized Swimming ChampionshipsSolo outdoor
Gold medal – first place1953 U.S. National AAU Synchronized Swimming ChampionshipsSolo outdoor
Gold medal – first place1954 U.S. National AAU Synchronized Swimming ChampionshipsSolo outdoor
Gold medal – first place1955 Pan American GamesSolo

Beulah Detwiler Gundling (Feb 13 1916 - Oct 1 2003) was an American synchronized swimmer, aquatic artist, choreographer and author.

Early life and sportive career

In her childhood Beulah Gundling was mainly interested in music and ballet. At the age of 14 she started to take swimming lessons after being encouraged by her parents to learn how to swim and dive. However, the first experiences with swimming were very negative for her, because she continuously sank in the water.[1] She started to read instructional books on swimming, decided to teach herself how to float and successfully continued this autodidactic learning in the following years. She attended several competitions and even won an Iowa AAU gold medal for the backstroke.[2] In 1938, she finished her education at Coe College and started to work as a secretary for the Chamber of Commerce in Cedar Rapids. To that time she began to find swimming laps boring and to develop her idea of combining swimming with music and dance. After studying a book about rhythmic swimming she created a routine of swimming strokes which were set to music. On the suggestion of her husband, coach and manager Henry Gundling, Beulah took part at the duet competition in synchronized swimming at the Outdoor Nationals in Des Moines in 1948 together with Noreen Fenner and placed 10th.[3] In the following years, Beulah increased her interest in performing solo routines, for which she designed her own costumes. She won several important competitions in North America, inter alia she took first place at the 1949 Canadian Synchronized Swimming Championships with a routine entitled The Swan after music by Camille Saint-Saëns. Moreover, she won the Outdoor solo title at the U.S. National AAU Synchronized Swimming Championships from 1950 to 1954. Gundling introduced solo synchronized swimming on an exhibition basis at the 1951 Pan American Games as well as the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, where she presented her program Thunderbird to music from the opera Natoma by Victor Herbert.[4] After winning the gold medal of the solo event at the 1955 Pan American Games Beulah Gundling finished her sports career.

1955-2000: Aquatic Artist, choreographer and author

After winning the gold medal of the solo event at the 1955 Pan American Games Beulah Gundling finished her swimming career presenting compositions at many festivals held by the International Academy of Aquatic Art until she retired in 1991, having been awarded only First Class Honors of the IAAA for all of her works.[5] In addition, she wrote nine books on swimming and gave numerous lectures all over the world.

In 1965 Beulah Gundling was the first synchronized swimmer to be inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. In 2000 she had her final aquatic appearance in the documentary The Mermaid's Club: A History of Synchronized Swimming by Paul Carvalho.[6]

Choreographies (selection)

Here is an incomplete list of Beulah Gundling's own choreographies of solo routines which she presented herself:

Beulah Gundling: Claire de Lune (1981)
Beulah Gundling: Concerto (1977)
Beulah Gundling and her husband Henry Gundling (left) in 1980

Bibliography (complete)

  • B. Gundling, Peg Seller: Aquatic Art - A textbook for swimmers and instructors in Aquatic Art, published by Pioneer Litho, Cedar Rapids, 1957.[7]
  • B. Gundling: Exploring Aquatic Art, self-published work, 1963.[8]
  • B. Gundling: The Aquatic Art book of figures, self-published work, 1963.[9]
  • B. Gundling: The Aquatic Art book of water shows, self-published work, 1964.[10]
  • B. Gundling: Fun with Aquatic figure variations, self-published work, 1971,[11]
  • B. Gundling: Aquatic Enchaînements and Petite Compositions, self-published work, 1972.[12]
  • B. Gundling: Dancing in the Water (Autobiography), self-published work, 1976.[13]
  • B. Gundling, Jill White: Creative Synchronized Swimming, Leisure Press, Champaign, Illinois 1988.[14]
  • B. Gundling: To Henry with Love, self-published work, 1988.[15]

Further reading

  • Robert E. Kerper: Splash - Aquatic Shows from A to Z (published by Michael Zielinsky, 2002)[16]
  • Dawn Pawson Bean: Synchronized swimming - An American history. McFarland Company Inc. Publishers, Jefferson (North Carolina, USA), 2005.[17]
  • Johanna Beisteiner: Art music in figure skating, synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics/Kunstmusik in Eiskunstlauf, Synchronschwimmen und rhythmischer Gymnastik. PhD thesis, Vienna 2005, (German). Contains information about Beulah Gundling and the IAAA (Chapter I/2: History of synchronized swimming, pages 40–55).[18]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Beulah Detwiler Gundling. Biography of B. Gundling on the website of Coe College, Cedar Rapids (Iowa, USA, 2006).
  2. ↑ Michael Heim, Exploring Iowa Highways, Wabasha 2006, page 88. Information about the book on Google website.
  3. ↑ Biography of Beulah Gundling on the website of Coe College, Cedar Rapids (Iowa, USA, 2006).
  4. ↑ Video of B. Gundling's program Thunderbird at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki Archived May 12, 2014, at the Wayback Machine on the official ISHOF website.
  5. ↑ History on the official website of the International Academy of Aquatic Art. USA, 2012.
  6. ↑ Filmography Archived December 10, 2014, at the Wayback Machine at the official website of Paul Carvalho, 2002.
  7. ↑ Aquatic Art - A textbook for swimmers and instructors in Aquatic Art. Information about the book by Gundling and Seller on Biblio website, 2012.
  8. ↑ Exploring Aquatic Art. Information on Google website.
  9. ↑ The Aquatic Art book of figures. Information on Google website.
  10. ↑ The Aquatic Art book of water shows. Information on Google website.
  11. ↑ Fun with Aquatic figure variations. Information on Google website.
  12. ↑ Aquatic Enchaînements and Petite Compositions. Information on Google website.
  13. ↑ Dancing in the Water. Information on Google website, contains information about the IAAA.
  14. ↑ Creative Synchronized Swimming. Information about the book by Gundling and White on Google website, contains information about the IAAA.
  15. ↑ To Henry with Love. Information about the book by Gundling on GetCited website, 2002.
  16. ↑ 2009 Buck Dawson Authors Award Archived 2010-11-24 at the Wayback Machine. Information about the book by R.E. Kerper on the official website of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, 2009.
  17. ↑ Synchronized swimming - An American history. E-Book on Google website, contains information about Beulah Gundling, page 62.
  18. ↑ Article about the PhD thesis Archived 2012-01-12 at the Wayback Machine by Johanna Beisteiner in the catalogue of the Austrian Library Network. 2005. (German and English)
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