Natalie Coughlin

Natalie Coughlin

Personal information
Full name	Natalie Anne Coughlin
Nationality	United States
Stroke(s)	Backstroke, freestyle
College team	California
Date of birth	August 23, 1982 (1982-08-23) (age 27)
Place of birth	Vallejo, California, United States[1]
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Medal record Women's swimming Competitor for the  United States Olympic Games Gold 2004 Athens 100 m backstroke Gold 2004 Athens 4×200 m freestyle Gold 2008 Beijing 100 m backstroke Silver 2004 Athens 4×100 m freestyle Silver 2004 Athens 4×100 m medley Silver 2008 Beijing 4×100 m freestyle Silver 2008 Beijing 4×100 m medley Bronze 2004 Athens[2] 100 m freestyle Bronze 2008 Beijing 100 m freestyle Bronze 2008 Beijing 200 m medley Bronze 2008 Beijing 4×200 m freestyle World Championships (LC) Gold 2001 Fukuoka 100 m backstroke Gold 2003 Barcelona 4×100 m freestyle Gold 2005 Montreal 4×200 m freestyle Gold 2007 Melbourne[3] 100 m backstroke Gold 2007 Melbourne 4×200 m freestyle Silver 2001 Fukuoka 4×100 m medley Silver 2003 Barcelona 4×100 m medley Silver 2005 Montreal 4×100 m medley Silver 2007 Melbourne 4×100 m freestyle Silver 2007 Melbourne 4×100 m medley Bronze 2001 Fukuoka 50 m backstroke Bronze 2005 Montreal 100 m backstroke Bronze 2005 Montreal[4] 100 m freestyle Bronze 2005 Montreal 4×100 m freestyle Bronze 2007 Melbourne 100 m butterfly Pan Pacific Championships Gold 2002 Yokohama 100 m backstroke Gold 2002 Yokohama 100 m butterfly Gold 2002 Yokohama 100 m freestyle Gold 2002 Yokohama 4×200 m freestyle Gold 2006 Victoria 100 m freestyle Gold 2006 Victoria 4×100 m freestyle Gold 2006 Victoria 4×200 m freestyle Gold 2006 Victoria 4×100 m medley Silver 2002 Yokohama 4×100 m freestyle Silver 2002 Yokohama 4×100 m medley Silver 2006 Victoria 100 m backstroke Silver 2006 Victoria 50 m freestyle

Natalie Anne Coughlin (born August 23, 1982) is an American swimmer who has represented the United States at the 2004 and the 2008 Olympics. At the 2008 Olympics, she became the first American female athlete in modern Olympic history^[5] 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 held World, American, and US Open records in various events and has eleven Olympic medals.^[5]

Biography

Coughlin was born in Vallejo, California. She went to school at St. Catherine of Siena School (Vallejo, California) from K-8 then Carondelet High School in Contra Costa county afterwards. Coughlin lives in Lafayette, California, was originally from Concord, California and is of Irish and one quarter Filipino^[6] 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.^[7]

Prior to the 2004 Olympics, she was a student-athlete at Carondelet High School in Concord, California, 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 Cal.

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

In April 2009, she married Crow Canyon Sharks swim coach, Ethan Hall.^[8] One of Coughlin's favorite hobbies is cooking. During the Beijing Olympics, she was invited to prepare an Asian-themed dish on the Today show.^[9]

It was announced on August 17, 2009 that she will compete in season 9 of Dancing with the Stars with season 1 professional champion, Alec Mazo.^[10][11] She was eliminated on the fifth episode.

2004 Athens Summer Olympic Games

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 silver in the 4x100m medley relay and a bronze in the 100 m freestyle.^[12] Her lead-off split on the 4×200 m relay would have won gold in the individual 200 m freestyle event.

2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games

In her second Olympics appearance, at Beijing in 2008, she became the first American female athlete^[5] 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.^[13] 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.^[14] 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.

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 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

• List of world records in swimming
• United States records in swimming
• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists

References

External links

• Natalie Coughlin at the United States Olympic Committee.
• TIME: The Olympians, Natalie Coughlin
• Natalie Coughlin at Twitter

Records
Preceded by He Cihong	Women's 100 meter backstroke world record holder (long course) August 13, 2002 – June 30, 2008	Succeeded by Hayley McGregory
Preceded by Hayley McGregory	Women's 100 meter backstroke world record holder (long course) June 30, 2008 – August 11, 2008	Succeeded by Kirsty Coventry
Preceded by Martina Moravcová	Women's 100 meter butterfly world record holder (short course) November 22, 2002 – August 28, 2006	Succeeded by Libby Trickett
Preceded by Jenny Thompson	Women's 100 meter individual medley world record holder (short course) November 23, 2002 – August 10, 2009	Succeeded by Emily Seebohm
Awards
Preceded by Inge de Bruijn	World Swimmer of the Year 2002	Succeeded by Hannah Stockbauer
Preceded by Brooke Bennett	Swimming World American Swimmer of the Year 2001 – 2002	Succeeded by Amanda Beard
Preceded by Katie Hoff	Swimming World American Swimmer of the Year 2008	Succeeded by shared between Ariana Kukors & Rebecca Soni

v • d • e 2004 USA Olympic Swimming Team Men's Team Ian Crocker  •  Nate Dusing  •  Mark Gangloff  •  Scott Goldblatt  •  Gary Hall, Jr.  •  Brendan Hansen  •  Bryce Hunt  •  Larsen Jensen  •  Klete Keller  •  Dan Ketchum  •  Lenny Krayzelburg  •  Jason Lezak  •  Ryan Lochte  •  Tom Malchow  •  Aaron Peirsol  •  Michael Phelps  •  Scott Usher  •  Peter Vanderkaay  •  Erik Vendt  •  Neil Walker  •  Gabe Woodward Women's Team Amanda Beard  •  Lindsay Benko  •  Caroline Bruce  •  Kristen Caverly  •  Haley Cope  •  Maritza Correia  •  Natalie Coughlin  •  Margaret Hoelzer  •  Katie Hoff  •  Rhi Jeffrey  •  Kara Lynn Joyce  •  Kalyn Keller  •  Dana Kirk  •  Tara Kirk  •  Rachel Komisarz  •  Colleen Lanné  •  Diana Munz  •  Carly Piper  •  Kaitlin Sandeno  •  Jenny Thompson  •  Dana Vollmer  •  Amanda Weir Coaches Bob Bowman  •  Frank Busch  •  Teri McKeever  •  Richard Quick  •  Eddie Reese (Men's Head Coach)  •  Dave Salo  •  Mark Schubert (Women's Head Coach)  •  Jon Urbanchek

v • d • e 2008 USA Olympic Swimming Team Men's Team Nathan Adrian  •  Ricky Berens  •  Ian Crocker  •  Mark Gangloff  •  Matt Grevers  •  Brendan Hansen  •  Larsen Jensen  •  Cullen Jones  •  Klete Keller  •  Jason Lezak  •  Ryan Lochte  •  Aaron Peirsol  •  Michael Phelps  •  Eric Shanteau  •  Scott Spann  •  Gil Stovall  •  Peter Vanderkaay  •  Erik Vendt  •  Dave Walters  •  Mark Warkentin  •  Garrett Weber-Gale  •  Benjamin Wildman-Tobriner Women's Team Amanda Beard  •  Elizabeth Beisel  •  Elaine Breeden  •  Caroline Burckle  •  Natalie Coughlin  •  (Jessica Hardy)  •  Kathleen Hersey  •  Margaret Hoelzer  •  Katie Hoff  •  Megan Jendrick  •  Kara Lynn Joyce  •  Christine Magnuson  •  Christine Marshall  •  Lacey Nymeyer  •  Allison Schmitt  •  Emily Silver  •  Julia Smit  •  Rebecca Soni  •  Chloe Sutton  •  Dara Torres  •  Kim Vandenberg  •  Kate Ziegler Coaches  Jack Bauerle (Women's Head Coach)  •  Ray Benecki  •  Bob Bowman  •  Frank Busch  •  Sean Hutchison  •  Teri McKeever  •  Eddie Reese (Men's Head Coach)  •  Mark Schubert (National Team Head Coach)  •  Gregg Troy  •  Jon Urbanchek  •  Paul Yetter