PEOPLE KNOWN FOR: swimming
American swimmer
Missy Franklin is an American swimmer who won five medals, including four golds, at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Franklin was born in California, but her family moved to Centennial, Colorado, where...
Irish swimmer and lawyer
Michelle Smith is an Irish swimmer and lawyer who won four medals at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games to become the most successful Olympian in Ireland and the country’s first woman to capture a gold medal....
Swedish athlete
Arne Borg was a Swedish athlete, one of the dominant swimmers of the 1920s. Between 1921 and 1929 Borg set 32 world records in swimming. He was the winner of two silver medals and a bronze medal at the...
American swimmer
Tracy Caulkins is an American athlete, considered one of the most versatile swimmers ever. She is the only swimmer to set U.S. records in every stroke, and she won a record 48 U.S. national swimming titles....
Australian swimmer
Murray Rose was an Australian swimmer who won six Olympic medals and was the first man to swim the 1,500-metre freestyle in less than 18 minutes. At age 17 Rose became the youngest Olympian to win three...
Hungarian athlete
Krisztina Egerszegi is a Hungarian swimmer, the youngest athlete ever to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming. She won the 200-metre backstroke at the 1988, 1992, and 1996 Olympic Games, becoming only...
American athlete
Ethelda Bleibtrey was an American swimmer who overcame a crippling illness to win three gold medals at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp. Bleibtrey began swimming as therapy to counteract the effects of...
American athlete
Helene Madison was an American swimmer, the outstanding performer in women’s freestyle competition between 1930 and 1932. She won three Olympic gold medals and at her peak held every American freestyle...
American swimmer
Don Schollander is an American athlete who was the first swimmer to win four gold medals in a single Olympic Games. A product of the acclaimed Santa Clara (California) Swim Club, Schollander was noted...
American athlete and sportscaster
Donna de Varona is an American athlete and sportscaster who, after a record-breaking amateur career as a swimmer, established herself as an advocate for women’s and girls’ sports opportunities. De Varona...
German swimmer
Kristin Otto is a German swimmer, the first female athlete to win six gold medals at a single Olympic Games. Otto entered a special sports school at age 11 after East Germany’s comprehensive scouting program...
American swimmer
Debbie Meyer is an American swimmer who was the first woman to win gold medals in three individual swimming events in one Olympics. Meyer, who suffered from asthma in childhood, grew up near Sacramento,...
Dutch athlete
Hendrika Mastenbroek was a Dutch swimmer, who at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin became the first female athlete to win four medals at a single Games. Mastenbroek swam in the canals of Rotterdam, Netherlands,...
Australian athlete
Shane Gould is an Australian swimmer who won five Olympic medals and set world records in all five freestyle distances (100, 200, 400, 800, and 1,500 metres). Gould grew up around the water in Fiji and...
Canadian athlete
Victor Davis was a Canadian swimmer, an aggressive competitor who won four Olympic medals. At the 1982 world championships in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Davis set a world record and won a gold medal in the 200-metre...
Ukrainian athlete
Yana Klochkova is a Ukrainian swimmer who in 2004 became the first woman to win consecutive pairs of Olympic gold medals in the same events—the 200-metre and 400-metre individual medleys. Known as the...
Australian athlete
Boy Charlton was an Australian swimmer who won five Olympic medals. In 1923, at the age of 15, Charlton set his first world record, swimming 880 yards in 11 min 5.2 sec. En route to the 1924 Olympic Games...
British swimmer
Henry Taylor was a British swimmer who won five Olympic medals and was the first man to hold world records in the 400-metre, 880-yard, and 1,500-metre freestyle events. Taylor competed at the 1906 Intercalated...
Hungarian swimmer
Zoltán Halmay was a Hungarian swimmer who won seven Olympic medals and was the first world record holder in the 100-metre freestyle. At the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, Halmay won silver medals in the...
Indian swimmer
Bula Chowdhury is an Indian swimmer best known for her long-distance swimming feats. Chowdhury’s parents recognized their daughter’s talent at an early age and nurtured it carefully. When she was two years...
American athlete
John Naber is an American swimmer who won four gold medals—all in world-record time—and a silver at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. Primarily a specialist in the backstroke, Naber competed at the University...
Hungarian swimmer
Alfréd Hajós was a Hungarian swimmer who won three Olympic medals and was the first Olympic swimming champion. Hajós began swimming at age 13 after his father drowned in the Danube River. In 1895 he won...
- animal training
- athletics
- automobile racing
- baseball
- basketball
- billiards
- boxing
- bullfighting
- chess
- collecting
- cooking
- cricket
- cycling
- diving
- fencing
- football (soccer)
- football, gridiron
- golf
- gymnastics
- horse racing
- ice hockey
- lugeing
- motorboating
- mountaineering
- rodeo
- rowing
- rugby
- skating
- skiing
- sportscasting
- swimming
- tennis
- volleyball
- weight lifting
- wrestling
- yachting