Anne Warner Cribbs
Olympic Swimmer & Sports Executive
Distinguished Achievement · Olympic Ambassador
Anne Warner Cribbs
An Olympic gold medalist at 15, Anne Warner Cribbs went on to spend six decades shaping women's sports and Bay Area Olympic ambition, from co-founding a pioneering pro basketball league to leading the region's bids to host the Games.
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Age at Her First Olympic Gold Medal (Rome, 1960)
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Decades of Involvement with the Olympic Movement
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Seasons the ABL Played Before Its Model Shaped the NBA's Women's League
The Backstory
From a Menlo Park Pool to Olympic Gold
A Peninsula Upbringing
Born in San Mateo, she learned to swim at a Menlo Park neighborhood pool, attended Menlo-Atherton High School, and joined the Santa Clara Swim Club under coach George Haines.
Gold at 15
Won the 200-meter breaststroke at the 1959 Pan American Games in Chicago, then at the 1960 Rome Olympics placed fifth individually in the 200-meter breaststroke while helping the U.S. 4x100-meter medley relay team win gold.
Opening Doors Before Title IX
With no college women's swim teams available at the time, she stepped away from competition, earned a Stanford degree, worked for the City of Palo Alto, and then co-founded the American Basketball League to give female college stars a path to play professionally — a league whose structure the NBA later used to build its own women's league.
Bringing the Olympics to the Bay Area
Led Bay Area bids to host the 2012 and 2024 Summer Olympics; while neither bid succeeded, the effort built lasting cooperation among regional cities and counties, and as CEO of the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee she oversaw the hosting of world and national championships in swimming, table tennis, roller hockey, fencing, and the multi-sport Senior Games. In 1984 she also founded a recurring "welcome home" dinner for Northern California Olympians that continues to fund local athletes' training every four years.
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See Anne Warner Cribbs in Action
1959 → Present
Career Timeline
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1959
Pan American Games champion
Won gold in the 200-meter breaststroke in Chicago.
Swimmer, Then Sports Executive
A Santa Clara Swim Club standout who won Olympic gold at 15.
Learned to swim at a Menlo Park pool — Grew up in San Mateo
Menlo-Atherton High School — Also a standout for the Santa Clara Swim Club
Coached by George Haines — At the Santa Clara Swim Club
1959 Pan American Games gold — 200-meter breaststroke, Chicago
1960 Olympics, 5th individually — 200-meter breaststroke, Rome
1960 Olympic gold medal — 4x100-meter medley relay
Every award, on the record
Honors & Awards
Olympic Gold Medalist
Won gold as part of the U.S. 4x100-meter medley relay team at the Rome Olympics.
Pan American Games Champion
Won gold in the 200-meter breaststroke in Chicago.
Co-Founder, American Basketball League
Created a professional path for female college basketball stars; the league's structure was later adopted by the NBA for its women's league.
CEO, Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee
Led efforts to host the Summer Olympics and directed the region's staging of multiple world and national championship events.
More To Know
Deeper Cuts on Anne Warner Cribbs
In 2015 she received the Athletes in Excellence Award from the Foundation for Global Sports Development, recognizing her community service and youth sports work.
She ran for Palo Alto City Council in 2024, though she was unsuccessful in the race.
Honor Anne Warner Cribbs.
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Every gift made in a legend's name funds youth sports access across the Bay Area — the same spirit that built Anne Warner Cribbs's career.