Portrait of Chris von Saltza

Birthday profile

Chris von Saltza

American swimmer

Born
January 13, 1944
Age in 2026
82
Zodiac sign
Capricorn
Birth year
1944

About Chris von Saltza

Susan Christina von Saltza (born January 13, 1944), also known by her married name Christina Olmstead, is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in four events. As an age group swimmer, von Saltza swam for coach George Haines' Santa Clara Swim Club and led the club to multiple team championships at the nationals, in addition to winning nineteen individual Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) titles. She was featured on the July 21, 1958 cover of Sports Illustrated magazine as the "No. 1 U.S. Swimmer at the Age of 14." At the age of 16, she set the world record in the 400-meter freestyle at the U.S. Olympic trials, and proceeded to win four medals at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. Individually, she won a gold medal in the women's 400-meter freestyle, and a silver in the 100-meter freestyle. She won two more gold medals as a member of the winning U.S. teams in the women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay and 4×100-meter medley relay. Both U.S. relay teams set new world records in their respective events. A year prior to the Olympics, von Saltza won five gold medals at the 1959 Pan American Games. Her wins came in the 100-, 200-, and 400-meter freestyle, as well as the 4×100-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter medley relays. Von Saltza later attended Stanford University, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Asian history. Stanford, like most major American universities, had no women's swimming and diving team prior to the enactment of Title IX, and von Saltza effectively retired from competition swimming after the 1960 Olympics. In US, Christina was socially styled "the Baroness von Saltza," as her grandfather, Philip von Saltza, was member of the Saltza family of German origin, which is still part of the Swedish nobility. They immigrated to the United States at the turn of the 20th century, and she is still recognized by her title in the Who's Who of Swedish Nobility. Von Saltza was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in 1966.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Chris von Saltza was born

Chris von Saltza was born in 1944. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1944

  • #1 song"Swinging on a Star" – Bing Crosby
  • Top movieGoing My Way
  • Best-selling bookStrange Fruit – Lillian Smith

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentGreen Bay Packers win NFL Championship
  • Top headlineD-Day invasion of Normandy on June 6
  • Technology milestoneHarvard Mark I computer begins operations
  • Defining fadBobby socks
  • Notable inventionKidney dialysis machine
  • World population2.39 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championSt. Louis Cardinals (World Series)
  • U.S. population138.4M

1944 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Chris von Saltza's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19442026
Gas$0.21$3.45/gal
Average home$5,800$435,000
Average income$4,200$67,500
Minimum wage$0.30$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.27$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population138.4M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, International Olympic Committee. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.