Thelma BOUGHNER

Thelma Boughner learned to dive at a young age in her native Toronto and, between 1935 and 1941, she was undefeated in the one metre platform diving event at the Canadian National Championships. Her skill in this sport led her to be selected to represent her country at the 1936 Summer Olympics, where she finished 15th among 16 competitors in the springboard competition and 22nd and last in the platform event. She blamed her poor performance on a dentist in Germany, who she said poisoned her with arsenic while tending to a cavity, causing her to become sick and eventually lose some of her teeth.

Boughner retired from active competition in during World War II and moved to the United States in 1953, after marrying a Navy pilot. Together they ran a series of ice cream franchises across North Carolina. When she died in October 2017, at the age of 99, she was Canada’s oldest living Olympian.