WAILUKU — National swimming champion and 1940 Olympic hopeful Fujiko Katsutani Matsui is being remembered as a woman who never thought too highly of what she had accomplished as a young girl on Maui more than 60 years ago, her family said.

Matsui died Feb. 18 at age 84 at her home in Wailuku, deprived by World War II of her chance to compete in the Olympic Games as a champion swimmer, little recognized for her accomplishments.

"She didn't think it was anything. She was humble. ... She didn't realize herself what she had accomplished," said Matsui's son, Lee.

Matsui won the national Amateur Athletic Union title in the 200-meter breaststroke in 1939 and 1940, when she was 14 and 15 years old.

She qualified to represent the United States in the 1940 Olympics but never participated because the games were canceled due to the outbreak of World War II.

Matsui trained under legendary coach Soichi Sakamoto and was inducted into the Hawaii Swimming Hall of Fame in 2002.

Lee Matsui said his mother left swimming in 1940, after she found out she couldn't compete in the Olympics. He added that he never discussed with his mother how she felt about missing the Olympics.

According to the Hawaii Swimming Web site, Matsui's training during the summer months with coach Sakamoto ran from dawn to night.

When she would come home late at night from practice, her older brother, Isao, would lock her out of the house because he thought she was up to some mischief.

"When you train, you train because you want to become a champion," she was quoted as saying.

Matsui was a three-year member of Sakamoto's swim club.

Lee Matsui said there was little recognition of swimming athletes back in those days.

He said that in the late 1930s and early 1940s, the only person who would meet his mom at the airport after winning swimming competitions would be whoever was giving her a ride home.

"I think that's why she didn't think it was such a big deal. In those days the hoopla was so minimal if any. In today's times you would be a state hero," he said.

Born Sept. 13, 1924, in Wailuku, she was a homemaker. Visitation is at 4 p.m. today at Door of Faith Church, with a service at 5 p.m. Burial will be at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow at Maui Memorial Park.