Tags: Swimmer.
Hideko Maehata (前畑 秀子 Maehata Hideko May 14 1914– February 24 1995) was a Japanese breaststroke swimmer and the first Japanese woman to earn a gold medal in the Olympics.Maehata was born in Hashimoto northeastern Wakayama Prefecture Japan as the daughter of a tofu producer and as a child learned to swim in the Kinokawa River. In the fifth grade of elementary school she set an unofficial youth record for the 50-meter breaststroke.
