Profile; The History of Aquatics: 31 years in business. (Advertisement).

Diane Rothhammer first became involved in aquatics in 1962 when her daughter Keena, at the age of five, started to swim in a YWCA "Learn to Swim" program. Diane was a swim mom and through her daughter's love of the water she learned the ins and out of pool life, now more commonly referred to as aquatics.

Keena became a nationally ranked age group swimmer. Dianne recognized her daughter's talent and desire so in 1970 she took Keena to Santa Clara to train under America's highly respected and world famous Olympic coach, George Haines.

With her daughter now under the tutelage of coach Haines, Dianne began to focus energy toward an aquatic venture, in April of 1972, Rothhammer's first business was the "Deluxe Swim Gaggle", although manufacturing took place in Australia, this was the first goggle marketed in the United States. The "Deluxe Swim Goggle" is a product that has proven timeless, as Dianne still markets them today.

At the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Keena upset the great Australian Shane Gould to win the gold medal in 800 m. freestyle. In 1973, a year after the Olympic Games, the World Swimming Championships were held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. The German Democratic Republic (DDR) women swimmers decisively defeated their American and Australian competitors by a landslide. One of the factors in the German's success was their water resistant designed lycra swim suits that cut seconds off their times. The suits were manufactured in West Germany and were not available in the United States. Rothhammer went directly to the manufacturer of the water resistant swim suits and succeeded in acquiring exclusive sales rights in the United States. With this acquisition, Rothhammer successfully introduced the first lycra completive swimsuit to the United States.

The imported Rothhammer suits took American women's swimming by storm, but not without a challenge. In January 1974, the director of the swim meet held in Santa Rosa, California announced that swimmers wearing the ...