Natalie Coughlin

[christine]

Natalie Anne Coughlin (born August 23, 1982) is an American swimmer and eleven-time Olympic medallist.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Coughlin became the first American female athlete in modern Olympic history to win six medals in one Olympics and the first woman ever to win a 100 m backstroke gold in two consecutive Olympics.[1]

Coughlin's success has earned her the World Swimmer of the Year Award one time and American Swimmer of the Year Award three times. She has won a total of forty-eight medals in major international competition, twenty-one gold, seventeen silver, and ten bronze spanning the Olympics, the World, and the Pan Pacific Championships.

Coughlin currently lives in Lafayette, California and is of Irish and one quarter Filipino[2] heritage. She was born in Vallejo and went to school at St. Catherine of Siena School from kindergarten through eight grade. She attended Carondelet High School in Concord.

Coughlin first began swimming at the local YMCA when she was only 10 months old. In 1998 at age 15, she became the first swimmer to qualify for the Summer National in all 14 events.[3] Prior to the 2004 Summer Olympics, Coughlin was a student-athlete at the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a BA in psychology in 2005. Coughlin won 12 National Collegiate Athletic Association Swimmer of the Year honors in her first three years at Cal.

Coughlin worked as an in-studio host for MSNBC during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.

In April 2009, Coughlin married Crow Canyon Sharks swim coach, Ethan Hall.[4] One of Coughlin's favorite hobbies is cooking. During the 2008 Summer Olympics, she was invited to prepare a Chinese-themed dish on the Today show. She has appeared as a judge on Iron Chef America.[5]

Coughlin competed in season 9 of Dancing with the Stars with season 1 professional champion, Alec Mazo.[6][7] She was eliminated on the fifth episode.

[edit] Swimming career

High School

While in high school, Coughlin broke two individual National High School Records in the 200 yard IM (1:58.45) and the 100 yard backstroke (52.86).

2007 World Aquatics Championships

See also: Swimming at the 2007 World Aquatics Championships

At the 2007 World Aquatics Championships, Coughlin won five medals, two gold, two silver, and one bronze. In her first event, the 4×100 m freestyle relay, Coughlin won a silver medal along with Lacey Nymeyer, Amanda Weir, and Kara Lynn Joyce.[9] The following day, in the 100 m butterfly, she placed third in the final with a time of 57.34, an American record.[10] In the 100 m backstroke final, held the following day, she broke her own world record set in 2002 with a time of 59.44.[11][12] After a day of rest, Coughlin was back in the pool to swim the lead-off leg in the 4×200 m freestyle relay. Swimming in lane eight, Coughlin set the American record with a time of 1:56.43, to break Katie Hoff's one-day-old record of 1:57.09.[13] Dana Vollmer, Lacey Nymeyer, and Katie Hoff each extended the lead and the final time of 7:50.09 was a world record.[14] The following day, Coughlin finished in 4th place in the 100 m freestyle despite setting the championship record in the semifinals.[15] In her last event, the 4×100 m medley relay, Coughlin won a silver medal along with Tara Kirk, Rachel Komisarz, and Lacey Nymeyer.[16]

[edit] 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games

2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games

See also: Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2008 Summer Olympics

In Coughlin's second Olympics appearance, at Beijing in 2008, she became the first American female athlete[17] to win six medals in one Olympics. She was elected joint captain of the US women's swimming team together with five-time Olympian Dara Torres and four-time Olympian Amanda Beard.[18] Coughlin won the gold medal in the 100 m backstroke at those Games, becoming the first woman to retain the gold medal position in that event. She had lost her world record to Kirsty Coventry, the eventual winner of the silver medal, in the semi-final. When receiving her medal, her lip was still bleeding where she had bitten it during the race to distract her from the pain in her legs.[19] She won a silver medal in the 4×100 m freestyle relay, swimming with Lacey Nymeyer, Kara Lynn Joyce and Dara Torres, and also won bronze medals in the 200 m individual medley, 4x200 m freestyle relay, and the 100 m freestyle. She won a silver medal in her final race in the 4x100 medley relay swimming with Rebecca Soni, Christine Magnuson, and Dara Torres.

[edit] 2010 US Summer Nationals

After taking an 18-month break from swimming, Coughlin returned to the pool at the 2010 Conoco Phillips Summer Nationals for swimming. Coughlin qualified for Pan Pacs in the 100 Backstroke. (1:00.14).[20]

Before racing at the Pan Pacs, Coughlin, along with Amanda Beard, was elected co-captain of Team USA once again. Although she qualified for only one event, Coughlin signed up for the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke. In the finals of the 100 freestyle, Natalie Coughlin won the gold, making a new Pan Pacific Record. (53.67). In the finals of the 100 Backstroke, Coughlin finished third (59.70) behind Australia's Emily Seebohm(Gold) and Japan's Aya Terakawa(Silver) Coughlin won two more golds when starting off both the 4x100 Freestyle Relay and the 4x100 Medley Relay.[21]

[US_Rover]

Some assorted photos from her Cal days to Beijing: