At the age of 11, Govednik was pushed into a pool, apparently almost drowning before her sister Mary came to her rescue.
[2] As a 16-year-old at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, she finished sixth in the finals of the women's 200-meter breaststroke.
[3] Four years later, in Berlin, Germany, Govednik was eliminated in the first round of the 200-meter breaststroke.
[4] In later years, she became the physical education instructor at Washington Junior High School in Duluth, Minnesota.
[5] She was honored by her home town of Chisholm, Minnesota with the renaming of the junior high swimming pool, as well as, in 1974, declaring the 27 March as "Ann Govednik day".