Knowledge, care, and discipline: the Dane Ingeborg Paul-Petersen as a pioneer in women’s swimming coaching

Abstract

During the Interwar period, female athletes from Denmark dominatedinternational swimming competitions. It was the first time that the countrydemonstrated sporting success in a core Olympic discipline on the globalsporting level. Most of the Danish swimmers had the same coach, the co-leader of the Institute of Danish Women’s Gymnastics (DKI), Ingeborg Paul-Petersen. Based on archival sources and historical newspaper reports, thispaper shows that Paul-Petersen’s role as an educator in the DKI and her vastexperience in swimming training provided her with the perfect skills andcontext to develop her athletes into elite swimmers. She profited from theunique environment at the DKI that led her to approach coaching as acombination of motherly care for her young athletes and a discipling.However, Paul-Petersen avoided publicity and therefore her extraordinaryachievements remained largely unnoticed until date.