Enith Brigitha

Enith Sijtje Maria Brigitha is a former leading competitive swimmer of the 1970s, born in 1955 on Curacao to a Dutch mother and an Antillean father. She moved to the Netherlands as a teenager to pursue swimming and trained at the club Het Y in Amsterdam under coach Willie Storm. She represented the Netherlands at the Summer Olympics twice, starting in 1972 in Munich, and won two bronze medals at the 1976 Games in Montreal, in the 100 and 200 metre freestyle. She was the first black athlete to win a swimming medal at the Olympics and was twice named Dutch Sportswoman of the Year, in 1973 and 1974. Her 1976 results were affected by East Germany systematic doping, and other swimmers, including Shirley Babashoff, have supported her claim to higher places.