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Natalie Coughlin

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Natalie Coughlin
Personal information
Full nameNatalie Anne Coughlin
Nationality United States
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesBackstroke, Freestyle
Medal record
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2004 Athens 100 m backstroke
Gold medal – first place 2004 Athens 4×200 m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 2004 Athens 4×100 m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 2004 Athens 4×100 m medley
Bronze medal – third place 2004 Athens[1] 100 m freestyle
Gold medal – first place 2008 Beijing 100 m backstroke
Silver medal – second place 2008 Beijing 4×100 m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 2008 Beijing 4×100 m medley
Bronze medal – third place 2008 Beijing 100 m freestyle
Bronze medal – third place 2008 Beijing 200 m medley
Bronze medal – third place 2008 Beijing 4×200 m freestyle
World Championships (LC)
Gold medal – first place 2001 Fukuoka 100 m backstroke
Silver medal – second place 2001 Fukuoka 4×100 m medley
Bronze medal – third place 2001 Fukuoka 50 m backstroke
Gold medal – first place 2003 Barcelona 4×100 m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 2003 Barcelona 4×100 m medley
Gold medal – first place 2005 Montreal 4×200 m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 2005 Montreal 4×100 m medley
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Montreal[2] 100 m freestyle
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Montreal 100 m backstroke
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Montreal 4×100 m freestyle
Gold medal – first place 2007 Melbourne[3] 100 m backstroke
Gold medal – first place 2007 Melbourne 4×200 m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 2007 Melbourne 4×100 m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 2007 Melbourne 4×100 m medley
Bronze medal – third place 2007 Melbourne 100 m butterfly
Pan Pacific Championships
Gold medal – first place 2002 Yokohama 100m freestyle
Gold medal – first place 2002 Yokohama 100m backstroke
Gold medal – first place 2002 Yokohama 100m butterfly
Gold medal – first place 2002 Yokohama 4x200m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 2002 Yokohama 4x100m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 2002 Yokohama 4x100m medley
Gold medal – first place 2006 Victoria 100m freestyle
Gold medal – first place 2006 Victoria 4x100m freestyle
Gold medal – first place 2006 Victoria 4x200m freestyle
Gold medal – first place 2006 Victoria 4x100m medley
Silver medal – second place 2006 Victoria 50m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 2006 Victoria 100m backstroke

Natalie Anne Coughlin (born August 23, 1982) is an American swimmer who has represented the United States at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, and at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. At the Beijing Olympics, she became the first American female athlete in modern Olympic history[4] to win six medals in one Olympics and the first woman ever to win a 100 m backstroke gold in two consecutive Olympics. She is known for her dominance in a short course pool and for her underwater kicking ability. She currently holds World, American and US Open records in various events and has eleven Olympic medals.[4]

Biography

Coughlin was born in Vallejo, California, to Jim and Zennie (Bohn) Coughlin. She went to school at St. Catherine's of Sienna in Vallejo from K-8 then transferred to another school in Contra Costa county afterwards. Coughlin lives in Lafayette, California, was originally from Concord, California and is of Irish and one quarter Filipino[5] heritage. Natalie 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.[6]

As of April 2008, she is engaged to Crow Canyon Sharks swim coach, Ethan Hall; they are planning an April 2009 wedding.[7]

Prior to the 2004 Olympics, she was a student-athlete at Carondelet High School in Concord CA, Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California, then later at the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a BA in psychology in 2005. She had won twelve National Collegiate Athletic Association Swimmer of the Year honors in her first three years at the university.

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

2004 Summer Olympics

Coughlin won the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in the women's 100 m backstroke event and was a member of the silver medal women's 4×100 m freestyle relay with Kara Lynn Joyce, Amanda Weir, and Jenny Thompson. She also broke a world record and won gold as a member of the 4×200 m freestyle relay and obtained a bronze in the 100 m freestyle. Her lead-off split on the 4×200 m relay would have won gold in the individual 200 m freestyle event.

2004 Summer Olympics Events
Final medal count: 5 (2 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)
Date Event Final Time Place
August 14 4×100 m Freestyle Relay 3:36.39 AR 2nd
August 16 100 m Backstroke 1:00.37 ** 1st
August 18 4×200 m Freestyle Relay 7:53.42 WR 1st
August 19 100 m Freestyle 54.40 3rd
August 21 4×100 m Medley Relay 3:59.12 *** 2nd
  • ** Coughlin set the Olympic Record (1:00.17) in the semi-finals.
  • *** Coughlin set a new Olympic Record for the 100 m backstroke (59.68) in the relay lead-off leg.

2008 Summer Olympics

In her second Olympics appearance, at Beijing in 2008, she became the first American female athlete[4] 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.[8]

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[9].

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.

2008 Summer Olympics Events
Final medal count: 6 (1 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze)
Date Event Final Time Place
August 10 4×100 m Freestyle Relay 3:34.33 2nd
August 12 100 m Backstroke 58.96 1st
August 13 200 m Individual Medley 2:10.34 3rd
August 14 4×200 m Freestyle Relay 7:46.33 3rd
August 15 100 m Freestyle 53.39 3rd
August 17 4×100 m Medley Relay 3:53.30 2nd

Records

Coughlin has set several world records in swimming and was the first woman to go under 59 seconds in the long course 100 m backstroke, although she is not presently the holder of that record. She currently holds the short course 100 meter individual medley world record, and she also holds numerous United States records in swimming in both long course and short course pools and in both meter and yard variants, including 100 Free and 100 Back (LCM), 50 & 100 Back (SCM), and 100 Free, 100 & 200 Back, and 100 Fly (SCY).

See also

References

  1. ^ "2004 Olympic Games swimming results". Retrieved 2007-07-22.
  2. ^ "Montreal 2005 Results". Retrieved 2007-06-09.
  3. ^ "12th FINA World Championships". Retrieved 2007-06-09.
  4. ^ a b c "The six medals she won are the most by an American woman in any sport, breaking the record she tied four years ago. Her career total matches the third-most by any U.S. athlete." Jaime Aron (2008-08-17). "Coughlin's 6 medals most by a US woman". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
  5. ^ "Natalie Coughlin: Like Fish to Olympic Waters". Retrieved 2008-07-08.
  6. ^ "Natalie Coughlin Wins the Gold!". AsianWeek. Retrieved on 2008-08-20.
  7. ^ "Coughlin Overcomes Fear in Individual Medley". Retrieved 2008-07-15.
  8. ^ "U.S. swim teams name captains for Beijing".
  9. ^ "Why The Water Cube Is So Fast". Retrieved 2008-08-12.


Records
Preceded by Women's 100 metre backstroke
world record holder (long course)
August 13, 2002 – June 30, 2008 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Women's 100 metre butterfly
world record holder (short course)
November 22, 2002 – August 28, 2006 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Women's 100 metre individual medley
world record holder (short course)
November 23, 2002 – present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by Women's 100 metre backstroke
world record holder (long course)
June 30, 2008 – August 11, 2008 		Succeeded by
Awards
Preceded by World Swimmer of the Year
2002 		Succeeded by
Preceded by World American Swimmer of the Year
2001 – 2002 		Succeeded by



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