Swedish swimmer Jane Cederqvist, who won silver in the 400m freestyle at the 1960 Olympics, has died aged 77 ©Radiosporten/Twitter

Swedish swimmer Jane Cederqvist, who won silver in the 400 metres freestyle at the 1960 Olympics, died on January 15 aged 77 from complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Born in Stockholm, Cederqvist had just turned 15 in the summer of 1960 when she headed to the Rome Games.

She finished second in the women's 400m freestyle in 4min 53.9sec behind world record holder Chris von Saltza of the United States, who set an Olympic record of 4:50.6.

Cederqvist's time was quicker than that of Australian Lorraine Crapp, who won gold four years earlier in Melbourne.

Cederqvist had the misfortune of specialising in events that were not added to the Olympic programme until after her career ended.

Soon after the Olympics, she became the first woman to break 10 minutes in the 800m freestyle, clocking 9min 55.6sec at a meeting in Uppsala in August.

That took a full 16 seconds off the world record of Australian Ilsa Konrads.

The record held for two years until American Carolyn House bettered it.

But in September 1960, again in Uppsala, Cederqvist bettered Konrads' world record in the 1500m freestyle, clocking 19min 23.6sec.

Her record would hold for less than a year before being surpassed by fellow countrywoman Margareta Ryland.

The women's 800m freestyle was added to the Olympic programme in 1968, while the arrival of the women’s 1500m freestyle occurred in the postponed Tokyo 2020 Games held in 2021.

Cederqvist’s record-setting year sparked "Jane fever" in Sweden, greatly increasing the profile of swimming in the country.

Jane Cederqvist became the first woman to break 10 minutes in the 800m freestyle, clocking 9min 55.6sec at a meeting in Uppsala ©Swedish Olympic Committee
Jane Cederqvist became the first woman to break 10 minutes in the 800m freestyle, clocking 9min 55.6sec at a meeting in Uppsala ©Swedish Olympic Committee

She was aided by the 1960 Olympics being one of the first to be widely televised and her performance is reported to have inspired the subsequent construction of Stockholm’s first 50-metres pool.

Among those inspired by Cederqvist’s efforts was Gunnar Larsson, who would win two swimming golds at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Larsson’s older sisters, Karin and Kristina, were teammates of Cederqvist in the 1960 Olympics.

Cederqvist, who swam for the Stochkolmsklubben Neptun club, was the first woman to receive the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal - known as the Braqdguldet - awarded by a Swedish newspaper annually since 1925 to the nation's top athlete.

She remains the youngest to win that award.

Cederqvist retired from swimming in 1961 while still in her teens and completed a Ph.D. in history.

She worked in Government administration and became a director of the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities.

She spoke to Svenska Dagbladet in December about living with the ALS neurological disorder, in an interview occasioned by the death of Swedish ice hockey player and national sporting hero Borje Salming, who had the same disease.