Marthe Bogaerts

Marthe Bogaerts was a French swimming administrator in the early 20th-century from Paris.

Marthe Bogaerts

Personal information
Nickname(s)	tambour-majeur
Nationality	French
Sport
Club	Mouettes de Paris

Sport executive

Bogaerts served as the president of the Mouettes de Paris club between 1911 and 1920. This swimming club was a main women's swimming club in the early 20th-century; during the early phase of the French women's swimming. She was nicknamed "tambour-majeur" (major drummer). She is described as chairing the the club with "authority" but also with "dedication". During her presidency, the club grew to two hundred swimmers.

After the foundation of the Académie d'éducation physique et sportive de la femme, it had 1300 members in 1918. Bogaerts became responsible for the swimming section. Many swimmers became instructors including Yvonne Degraine, Georgette Houy, Berthe Conte and Suzanne Wurtz.

Personal life

Bogaerts married to a sports journalist of newspaper L'Auto. They lived in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. Their daughter Andrée Bogaerts (born 1903) was a swimmer. As a member of Mouettes de Paris she was was a competitive swimmer between 1912 and 1919. Her main achievements were winning the junior competition over 50 metre in Charenton-le-Pont in 1916 and finishing third in the 50 metre (behind Jeanne Decorne) and 80 metre at the Grand prix de Paris des joutes à la lance in 1919.