Carolyn Virginia Wood (born December 18, 1945) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder.

At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, however, during the women's 100-meter butterfly finals, she accidentally swallowed water during the turn and did not finish the race.

During one summer, she worked as a lifeguard and was ruled a professional, and was therefore ineligible to swim in college or in subsequent Olympic Games.

[13] Wood wrote a follow-up about her year as a governess for Robert F. Kennedy's family following his death in 1968 and her early experiences as a teacher.

Titled Class Notes: A Young Teacher's Lessons From Classroom to Kennedy Compound, the book was published in the summer of 2021.