Annie Villiger

Annie Villiger was one of four children born in Lugano to Peter Christian Villiger and Christiana Bertschi. She was involved in aquatics from a young age, and was active in swimming and diving from the late 1920s to the early 1940s. The winner of multiple national titles in swimming and diving, she set a Swiss record in the 400 metres freestyle in 1934. The highlight of her sporting career would come in 1936, when she was selected to represent her country at the Berlin Olympics as a member of the swimming delegation. There, she placed 14th in a field of 16 competitors in the women’s springboard event, earning a score of 62.38 points. Though she was also entered in both the 100 metres and 400 metres freestyle events, she ultimately did not compete.

Following her retirement from competition in the mid 1940s, Villiger was active with the Lugano Swimming Society (Società Nuoto Lugano) where she served as an instructor for swimming and rescue swimming classes, as well as on the sport committee for training. She was later a longtime teacher at the Professional School for Women (Scuola professionale femminile) in Lugano until her retirement.