Sybil Lorina Bauer (September 18, 1903 – January 31, 1927) was an American competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder.

[2] She represented the United States at the 1924 Summer Olympics, where she won the gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke in world record time.

[1][3] Beginning in her mid to late teens, Bauer competed and trained with the outstanding program at the Illinois Athletic Club (IAC) under Hall of Fame Coach William Bachrach.

[6] During a 1922 meet in Bermuda, she became the first woman to break a men's record,[7] finishing the 440-yard backstroke in a time of 6:24.4 (about four seconds ahead of the old mark).

[8] While at Northwestern, she served on the student council, was president and active in the Women's Athletic Association, and in addition to swimming, participated in basketball and field hockey.

[10] Bauer was engaged to future television host Ed Sullivan, a sports reporter at the time, and the couple were planning a June 1926 wedding, but she died of cancer during her senior year of college at the age of 23.

Prior to her passing, she spent three months at the Chicago area's Michael Reese hospital suffering from what was diagnosed as an intestinal infection.

[4][1][13][14] Services were held at Chicago's First Lutheran Church, and her funeral was well attended by members of her sorority Gamma Phi Betta.

The memorial was a bronze plaque on a wood background with an image of her in her Northwestern swimming suit, with an "N" emblazoned on the front, with the words "Daughters of Neptune", an organization of which she was a member, beneath.