1931 Dutch swimmers
Dutch swimmers Zus Braun, Coba Huybers, Puck Oversloot and Jeanne Grendel, with their coach/chaperone Ma Braun.
On 20 November 1930, the daily newspaper Het Vaderland wrote :
"On the Batavier II were the four Dutch swimmers, were Marie 'Zus' Braun, Jeanne Grendel, Puck Oversloot (all ODZ) and Coba Huybers (Het IJ) to London, from where they will travel via Southampton via Windsor Castle to Cape Town. They will arrive there on 8 December. "Arriving in South Africa, the ladies made a long journey from one gala to the other. They returned on March 2, 1931 after a journey of more than three months.
Zus Braun being congratulated by her mother Maria Johanna "Ma" Braun at the 1928 Olympic Games, after winning the 100m backstroke.
Ma Braun had many winners but it was always a challenge for the spectators whether to watch the race or Ma, one of the most volatile and colorful coaches, certainly the first great woman coach of world class women swimmers. She was an explosive personality of great temperament and sympathy who coached many of the Dutch national teams that dominated world women's swimming in the 1930s and 1940s.
Marie 'Zus' Braun. She obviously benefitted from having such a dynamic mother as her coach! Beginning with Ma Braun's girls and continuing with Jan Stender, the Netherlands was a dominant power in women's swimming for 30 years.
Puck Oversloot
A Canadian paper reported on the Dutch swimmers in South Africa on 12 April 1931.
A brief mention of the tour in an Australian newspaper of 1 April 1931.
Little information of this tour has been located in South Africa newspapers. Both articles are the Eastern Province Herald on 21 March 1931.
28 February 1931.
