Women Fitness has just selected the Top 10 Most Beautiful Women Swimmers in the World. These women are actually like fish in water, but because of their beauty and perfect ten bodies they put the water they swim in on fire.
Natalie Coughlin: Natalie Anne Coughlin Hall was born on August 23, 1982. She is an American international swimmer and twelve-time Olympic medalist. Ten days before her 20th birthday in 2002, she became the first woman ever to swim the 100-meter backstroke (long course) in under a minute. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she became the first U.S. female athlete in modern Olympic history to win six medals in one Olympiad, and the first woman ever to win a 100-meter backstroke gold in two consecutive Olympics.
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. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she earned a bronze medal in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay. Her total of twelve Olympic medals tie her with Jenny Thompson and Dara Torres for the most all-time by an American woman Coughlin was born in Vallejo, California, and is of Irish and one quarter Filipino ancestry. Coughlin first began swimming at the local YMCA when she was only 10 months old. She attended St. Catherine of Siena School in Vallejo, for kindergarten through eighth grade, and then Carondelet High School in Concord, California. While in high school in 1998, she became the first swimmer to qualify for the Summer National in all fourteen events. Coughlin broke two individual national high school records in the 200-yard individual medley (1:58.45) and the 100-yard backstroke (52.86). She graduated from Carondelet High School in 2000.
Coughlin attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she swam for coach Teri McKeever's California Golden Bears swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition from 2001 to 2003. During her three years as a Cal Bears swimmer, she won eleven individual NCAA national championships, and a twelfth NCAA relay title. She was recognized as the NCAA Swimmer of the Year for three consecutive years; Sports Illustrated magazine named her its college Female Athlete of the Year. She graduated from the University of California with a bachelor's degree in psychology in 2005 At the ninth World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Coughlin won three medals—one gold, one silver, and one bronze. She won her gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke with Diana Mocanu(Romania) taking the silver and Antje Buschschulte (Germany) taking the bronze. Coughlin won her silver medal in the women's 4x100-meter medley relay, teaming up with Megan Quann, Mary Descenza, and Erin Phenix; the Australians won the gold (Calub, Jones, Thomas, Ryan). Coughlin won her bronze medal in the 50-meter backstroke; fellow American Haley Cope won gold and Antje Buschschulte won the silver.
At the ninth Pan Pacific Championships in Yokohama, Japan, Coughlin won six medals—four golds and two silvers. Coughlin won one of her gold medals in the women's 100-meter backstroke with a time of 59.72, and another in the women's 100-meter butterfly with a time of 57.88. Coughlin won her third gold medal in the women's 100-meter freestyle with a time of 53.99. She won her fourth gold medal in the women's 4x200-meter freestyle relay with Elizabeth Hill, Diana Munz, and Lindsay Benko. She won her silver medals as a member of the second-place U.S. relay teams in the 4x100-meter freestyle and 4x100-meter medley events.
At the tenth World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Coughlin won two medals, including a gold and a silver. Coughlin won her gold medal in the women's 4x100-meter freestyle relay and a silver medal in the 4x100-medley relay.
At the 14th World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, China, Coughlin won three medals–one gold, one silver, and one bronze. She won a gold medal in the women's 4x100-meter medley relay with fellow Americans Rebecca Soni, Dana Vollmer, and Missy Franklin with a time of 3:52.36. She won a silver medal in the women's 4x100-meter freestyle relay with fellow Americans Missy Franklin, Jessica Hardy, and Dana Vollmer with a time of 3:34.47 with the Netherlands touching first with a time of 3:33.96. She won a bronze medal in the women's 100-meter backstroke, her only individual medal at these championships, with a 59.15. Coughlin led for the entire race, when in the last couple meters, Zhao Jing and Anastasia Zueva edged her out.
At the 2012 United States Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, the U.S. qualifying event for the Olympics, the 29-year-old veteran Coughlin found herself in competition with a younger generation of American swimmers. In order to qualify for the U.S team in a given individual event, swimmers are required to finish among the top two. In the finals of the 100-meter backstroke, she finished third behind teenagers Missy Franklin and Rachel Bootsma, and finished seventh in the 100-meter butterfly. Coughlin also competed in the 100-meter freestyle, and finished sixth, qualifying to compete as a member of the U.S. women's team in the preliminaries of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, she swam in the qualifying round of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, and did not swim in the 4x100-meter final, but earned a bronze medal when the U.S. team placed third in the final. It was her twelfth Olympic medal, tying the record previously set by American swimmers Jenny Thompson and Dara Torres for the most career Olympic medals won by a female U.S. athlete.
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.
Coughlin competed in season 9 of Dancing with the Stars with season 1 professional champion, Alec Mazo. She was eliminated on the fifth episodeCoughlin appeared in the 2012
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
Her official website: http://nataliecoughlin.com
Stephanie Rice: Stephanie Louise Rice was born on 17 June 1988.She is an Australian swimmer. She won three gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Rice is trained by Michael Bohl from the St Peters Western Swimming Club in Brisbane. She was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia on 26 January 2009.
Rice was the gold medallist in the 200 metres individual medley at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia where she defeated Olympians Brooke Hanson and Lara Carroll to claim the gold medal in the event in a time of 2:12.90, a personal best by 1.19 sec. She also won the 400m individual medley.
At the 2007 Melbourne World Championships she won a bronze medal in the 200m individual medley in a time of 2 minutes 11.42 seconds, breaking the previous Australian record by a second. American Katie Hoff won the gold in 2:10.13, with Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe in second place. Rice once again placed third, earning her second bronze medal in the 400m individual medley final. In a new personal best time Rice finished in 4:41.19, taking 0.54 sec off her previous best.
Rice continued her strong performance, setting a new personal best time in the 400m individual medley at an Italian meet in June 2007. Rice went a 4:40.79, edging closer to the elusive 4:40 barrier in the event. At the 2007 Japanese Open Championships, Rice smashed her personal best time in the 400m individual medley and finally cracked the 4:40 barrier. In placing second to Zimbabwean champion Kirsty Coventry, Rice set a new Australian and Commonwealth record of 4:37.18, a personal best by 3.61 sec.
At the 2008 Australian Olympic trials, Rice broke the world record in the 400 m individual medley. Rice stopped the clock at 4 minutes 31.46 seconds, 1.43 seconds under American Katie Hoff's mark of 4:32.89. On 29 June 2008, at the U.S. Olympic Trials, Hoff regained the world record from Rice with a time of 4:31.12. Rice claimed her second world record of the meet, when she broke the 200 m individual medley world record, clocking 2 minutes 8.92 seconds to slash almost a full second off the previous record held by China's Wu Yanyan.
At the Beijing Olympic Games, Rice received her first-ever Olympic medal, Australia's first gold medal of the games and its 400th summer Olympic medal, winning the 400m individual medley in a time of 4 minutes 29.45 seconds. In the process she reclaimed the world record from Hoff bettering the mark by 1.67 seconds, thus becoming the first woman to break the 4:30 in the event, (Kirsty Coventry also went under 4:30 in taking the silver).
In 2009 World Championships, Rice began the meet with a solid performance in the 200m IM. Despite losing her world record, she sliced 1.42s off her personal best time while capturing a silver medal. Experimenting with the 200 freestyle did not end well as she failed to make the final. With the absence of Linda Mackenzie, Kylie Palmer and Meagan Nay, the team was never in medal contention, finishing 5th. Rice retained her 400 IM record however finished with a bronze in the final. She was awarded a silver medal for her contributions in the medley relay heats.
Awards
2008 Telstra Australian Swimmer of the Year.
Swimming World Magazine named Rice as (female) 2008 World Swimmer of the Year as well as Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year
Rice attended Clayfield College in her high school years in Brisbane, Queensland. She was romantically linked with fellow Australian swimmer and 50m freestyle world-record-holder Eamon Sullivan. They ended their 2 year relationship in July 2008, just prior to the Beijing Olympics.The couple lived in separate states of Australia (Sullivan in WA and Rice in Queensland) and said the stress of living so far apart and the impending Olympics caused the split, but have conceded that the two are still good friends.
Her official website: http://www.stephanierice.com.au
Federica Pellegrini: was born on 5 August 1988. She is an Italian swimmer. A native of Mirano, in the province of Venice, she used to hold the women's 200 m freestyle (long course and short course) and 400 m (long course) freestyle world record, but finished fifth in both events at the London 2012 Olympics. At the 2009 World Championships in Rome, Pellegrini became the first woman ever to breach the 4 minute barrier in 400 m freestyle with the time 3:59.15. Pellegrini is the first female Olympic champion in the history of Italian swimming; she is also the only Italian swimmer to have set world records in more than one event.
Pellegrini's first international podium was at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, where she won the silver medal in the 200 m freestyle at the age of 16, becoming the youngest Italian athlete ever to win an Olympic medal in an individual event.
Pellegrini's first long course gold medal came at the 2008 European Championships in Eindhoven, where she won the 400 m freestyle setting a world record (4:01.53).
At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, she arrived as the world-record holder and favourite for the gold medal in the 400 m freestyle, but only finished 5th in the final. On the same day, she recovered from that disappointment by setting a world record in the heats of the 200 m freestyle; in the final, she broke her own world record (1:54.82) and won her first Olympic gold medal.
Pellegrini also proved her strength in short course events at the 2008 European SC Championships in Rijeka when she won the gold medal in the 200 m freestyle at a world-record pace (1:51.85). At the 2009 Mediterranean Games in Pescara, Pellegrini broke the world record in the 400 m freestyle with a time of 4:00.41 to better Joanne Jackson's record of 4:00.66.
At the 2009 World Championships in Rome, Pellegrini broke the world record again in the 400 m freestyle with a time of 3:59.15, winning the gold medal and in doing so becoming the first female swimmer to break the 4 minute barrier in the event. In 2010 Pellegrini announced that she would be working with Laure Manadou's former coach, Philippe Lucas.
After a very successful 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, Federica parted ways with her French coach and began working with Federico Bonifacenti.
May 2012 saw her surprisingly excluded from the final of the 400 meters freestyle at the 2012 European Aquatics Championships, after winning two gold medals in other events (200 metre freestyle and 4×200 m freestyle relay) and a bronze medal in 4×100 freestyle relay).
At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Pellegrini failed to medal in any of her individual events, finishing fifth in the 400 meters freestyle (4:04.50) and the 200 meters freestyle (1:56.73).
Since August, 2011, she has been in a relationship with fellow swimmer, Filippo Magnini, having previously been engaged to another teammate, Luca Marin.
She currently holds 3 world records (WR), 3 European records (ER) and 10 National records (NR).
Laure Manaudou: Laure Manaudou was born on 9 October 1986 in Villeurbanne, Rhône.She is a French Olympic, world and European champion swimmer. She has held the world record in freestyle events between 200 and 1500 meter. She is the daughter of a French father and a Dutch mother and the older sister of Florent Manaudou who is also an Olympic gold medalist swimmer.
She won the gold medal in the women's 400 meter freestyle at the 2004 Athens Olympics. It was France's first gold medal ever in women's swimming and the first swimming gold medal won by a French athlete since Jean Boiteux's victory in the 400 meter men's freestyle event at Helsinki in 1952. Manaudou won the silver medal in the women's 800 meter freestyle at the Athens Olympics. In that race, she had a quick start but was passed down the stretch by Ai Shibata of Japan. She also won the bronze medal in the women's 100 meter backstroke, thus becoming only the second Frenchwoman to win three medals in a single Olympic Games, Summer or Winter. The first one was the track and field athlete Micheline Ostermeyer in London in 1948. Manaudou was by far the best swimmer on the French team, but she did not have the team support to win a medal in the women's 4×200 m freestyle relay.
Manaudou is currently tied for third (three medals altogether) on the all-time list of French multiple female Winter or Summer Olympic medal winners along with Micheline Ostermeyer, Marielle Goitschel, Pascale Trinquet-Hachin, Perrine Pelen, Anne Briand-Bouthiaux, Marie-José Pérec, Félicia Ballanger and Camille Muffat. The all-time leader is the fencer Laura Flessel-Colovic, who has five Olympic medals.
On 17 September 2009, at 22 years of age, Manaudou announced through the newspaper Le Parisien her retirement from competitive swimming. She was quoted as saying, "It came to me little by little. I didn’t make it on impulse. It has matured slowly.” In October 2010, she returned to training in the United States with the Auburn University Tigers swim team. She made her return to competition on July 14, 2011 in Tigers colours at a small swimming meet in Athens, Georgia in the United States, where she set a personal record in the 50 m freestyle event (25.84 s).
Manaudou competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics in three events - 100 m backstroke, 200 m backstroke, and the 4 x 100 m medley relay. She failed to advance from the first round heats in all the three events. However, she was poolside on August 3 as her younger brother Florent won a surprise victory in the men's 50 m freestyle final, and embraced him following his victory.
The weekly magazine Paris Match ran a cover story on Manaudou in its 5–11 April 2007 issue.From 2001–2007, Manaudou was coached by Philippe Lucas. She competed for the Melun-Dammarie club until 2006, when she moved to Canet-en-Roussillon.On 9 May 2007, she announced at a press conference at the Canet-en-Roussillon swim club that she was leaving her coach Philippe Lucas to move to Italy and to train with the club Lapresse Nuoto, located in Turin. She added, however, that she would continue to swim for France.
On 6 August it was reported that Manaudou had been removed from her Italian-based team. The split is said to have been triggered by a fallout between Manaudou and LaPresse Nuoto club chief executive Paolo Penso. Penso is believed to have questioned Manaudou's attitude to training (Reuters/L'Equipe).
Manaudou won four medals in the European Championships of 2007, despite reported conflicts between her and Luca Marin, her Italian ex-boyfriend. The same day, lewd pictures of Laure Manaudou started to propagate on the Internet. Marin denied being the culprit. On April 2, 2010, she and her boyfriend, Frédérick Bousquet, also a world class swimmer, welcomed their first child, daughter Manon.
Accomplishments:
Between June 2004 and April 2008, Manaudou remained unbeaten in the 400 metres freestyle, winning 23 finals in succession.
2007 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia 200 meters 1:55.52 World Record.
2006 European Championships in Budapest Hungary 400 meters 4:02.13 World Record.
Her official website: http://www.lauremanaudou.fr
Zsuzsanna Jakabos: Zsuzsanna Jakabos was born on April 3, 1989. She is a Hungarian swimmer, who three times competed for her native country at the Summer Olympics: 2004, 2008, and 2012.
She won European Short Course Champions in Women's 200 m Butterfly and European Short Course Champions in Women's 400 m Individual Medley.
Her nickname is Zsu. She speaks English, German, Hungarian. Her club is ANK Uszoklub, Pecs, Hungary. She won her first medal as a skier.
Zsuzsanna Jakabos has attracted the attention of the media for her lipstick and polished nails, while competing for a medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games. It took a while to collect some nice pictures, though. Newspapers tend to publish low size, low quality photos. And there is not much else on-line. So, here is my gallery of high resolution pictures of Zsuzsanna Jakabos. The most beautiful athlete of these Games, the fairest of the Olympic Realm. Her hometown is Pecs, Hungary and she did High School from University of Pecs.
Zsuzsanna Jakabos was featured on the cover page of EVA July 2012 Hungary. Her height is 6'1'' and she weighs about 146 lbs.
Beatriz Feres and Branca Feres: Beatriz Feres and Branca Feres were born on February 22, 1988 at Brazil. The are Brazilian synchronized swimmers, models, and actresses. They are identical twins.
The Feres sisters started practicing swimming and gymnastics at the age of three, and began synchronized swimming at the age of seven. They were champions of Brazil in both juvenile and adult categories, and reached second place in the 2005 Pan American Junior Games in Orlando.
The Feres sisters competed for Brazil in the 2007 Pan American Games in synchronized swimming. They were rumored to be competing as synchronized swimmers in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, but they did not.
The Feres sisters are also models and have appeared in a number of photo shoots, including one for Brazilian magazine VIP in July 2008, where they appeared on the cover.
This pair were foreign exchange students at Roosevelt High School in Seattle, Washington. When outside the match, their main activity is modelling. They have appeared in many magazine covers, including VIP and Maxim. They just 22-year-old right now.
Beatriz Moreira Feres says on her site she loves to eat white chocolate and sashimi. Sites and personal communities: http://twitter.com/BiaeBrancaFeres
Their official website: http://biaebranca.com.br/
Anastasia Davydova: Anastasia Semyonovna Davydova was born on February 2, 1983 in Moscow.she is a Russian competitor in synchronized swimming and five-time Olympic champion.
She won gold medals in the duet competition with Anastasia Ermakova at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and was part of the Russian gold medal team in the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics. After winning the 2012 Olympic gold medal she announced that she would retire to take up coaching.
In a sport that usually forces athletes to be patient as they build international reputations, Anastasia Davydova did not have to wait very long to move to the top. She won her first international medal as an 18-year-old at the 2001 World Championships in duet with her partner, Anastasia Ermakova. In 2002, at 19-years-old, the pair became European champs. The two started working and competing together as juniors in 1998; because they were very successful, judges were already familiar with them by the time they became seniors.
Butterflies galore
Davydova—nicknamed “Asya”—began taking synchronized swimming lessons at age 6, when her parents first took her to the nearby pool. An only child, she attended a special sports school in Moscow, which she graduated from in the spring of 2002. She went on to study at the Moscow Institute of Economics, Politics, and Law. Davydova took a break from synchronized swimming in 2009 and started coaching young athletes at her hometown club. She has a tattoo of 17 butterflies on her back that has to be covered up before competition.
At her first major senior international event, Davydova placed second with Ermakova in duet at the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan—the only team to beat them was the Japanese pair. At that event, she also led a team of juniors to the world title in the team event. Later that year, Davydova claimed the junior world championship with Ermakova in duet. She won her first senior championship gold medal with Ermakova at the 2002 European Championships in Berlin, where they performed a nearly flawless routine (including five perfect 10s in the final free program). Davydova then went on to claim the team title in Berlin with two perfect 10s. At the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona, Davydova and Ermakova won their first senior world duet title; the Russian team was also victorious. Davydova won team and duet at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Athens in April 2004 and the European Championships in Madrid in May 2004.
Along with their win at the 2003 World Championships, Davydova and Ermakova won gold at the 2005 and 2007 World Championships (in both the duet technical and duet free events in 2007), the 2006 World Cup and the 2006 European Championships.
With Ermakova, Davydova won gold in Athens with an impeccable routine, scoring a perfect 50 for artistic impression (receiving a score of ten from all five judges). The pair again won duet gold in Beijing, earning a combined 99.251 and all perfect 10s for technical merit. The Russian team also won gold in 2008, leaving Davydova with a record four gold synchro medals.
After Ermakova retired, Davydova stepped aside to make room for a new duo. Today, she still competes with the Russian team. She could tie the synchronized swimming career medals record if the Russian squad places in the team competition, and a first-place finish would place her on top of the career gold list. London will be Davydova’s third Olympic Games.
Davydova and her longtime duet partner, Anastasia Ermakova started competing together as juniors in 1998. In 2001 they won their first international medal by winning silver in duet at Worlds. A year later they won their first senior national championship gold medal at Europeans in Berlin, where they performed a nearly flawless routine (five perfect 10s in the final free program). The duo went on to claim the duet title at the 2003 Worlds in Barcelona, where the Russian team was also victorious. As for training, they generally spend eight hours in the pool each day and spend an additional ten hours a week training out of the pool. Davydova lives with her team at a training camp outside of Moscow.
Davydova started synchronized swimming when she was six years old after her parents took her to a nearby pool. Growing up in the sport, Davydova graduated from Moscow University in 2002 with a degree in economics.Her height is 5’6” (1.69 m) and she weighs about 119 lbs (54 kg).
Haley Cope: Haley Cope was born on April 11, 1979. She is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder. She won a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics, eight world championship medals, and held a world record in the 50-meter backstroke.
Clark swam at the University of California, Berkeley from 1998 to 2001. In 2000, she was named the Pac-10 Conference swimmer of the year, and helped lead California to a fourth-place finish nationally. Clark was the second of three consecutive conference swimmers of the year from Berkeley; Marylyn Chiang in 1999, herself in 2000, and Natalie Coughlin in 2001, 2002, and 2003. At the 2000 NCAA national championships in Indianapolis, she swam the 50 metre backstroke in 27.25 seconds, breaking Sandra Völker's short course world record. She graduated in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in mass communications. In 2001, she won a gold medal in the 50 metre backstroke at the World Aquatics Championship, and two medals at the final Goodwill Games. Her 50 metre backstroke performance at the Goodwill Games was a record time for the competition.
After graduating from Berkeley, Cope continued her swimming career, winning her second short course worlds title at the 2002 Short Course World Swimming Championships held in Moscow. She won gold medal in the 100 backstroke, and two silver medals in the 50 backstroke, and the 4x100 metre medley relay, in which she swam the backstroke leg. In 2003, she swam at her second long course World Championships in Barcelona, where she won a silver medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay.
Cope's last major international competition was in October 2004, at the 2004 Short Course World Swimming Championships in Indianapolis. In Indianapolis, she repeated as champion in the 100 backstroke,as well as winning the 50 backstroke. As part of the American team, she won a silver medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay.
Clark married her former coach, Brian Clark, in 2002, and has three children. She is currently operating a swimming school in Chico. Clark posed nude for the September 2004 issue of Playboy magazine.
Her achievements:
2004 USA Olympic Swimming Team
World Long Course Champions in Women's 50 m Backstroke
World Short Course Champions in Women's 50 m Backstroke
World Short Course Champions in Women's 100 m Backstroke
Amanda Beard: Amanda Ray Beard was born on October 29, 1981.She is an American swimmer and a seven-time Olympic medalist (two gold, four silver, one bronze). She is a former world record holder in the 200-meter breaststroke (long course).
Beard's success have earned her the American Swimmer of the Year Award twice. She has won a total of twenty-one medals in major international competition, five gold, thirteen silver, and three bronze spanning the Olympics, the World Championships, the Pan Pacific Championships, and the Summer Universiade.
Beard made her first Olympic appearance at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games at the age of 14, while still a student at Irvine High School in Irvine, California. She was often photographed clutching her teddy bear, even on the medal stand. Beard became the second-youngest Olympic medalist in American swimming history when she won three medals in Atlanta—one gold and two silver.
In August, 2010, she came out of retirement to compete at the 2010 Conoco Phillips National Championships. She finished second in the 200 breast finals at 2:26.50, qualifying her for the Pan Pac Team to represent the USA later in the month.
In the 100 breast, Amanda Beard swam a 1:08.72 in prelims and 1:09.12 in finals, finishing 6th.
After the US Nationals, Beard and Natalie Coughlin were nominated co-captains of Team USA once again. During the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, Amanda Beard signed up for her two signature events, the 100 m and the 200 m breaststroke. Beard qualified for finals in both events, but failed to medal. She was fifth in the 100 breast (1:07.49) and fifth in the 200 breast (2:24.30).
Beard failed to qualify for the 2012 Olympic team after finishing 5th in the 200 meter breaststoke at the Olympic Swimming Trials.
Her modeling work has included appearances in FHM,the 2006 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, and the July 2007 issue of Playboy magazine, in which she posed nude.
She is a spokeswoman for Defenders of Wildlife, and enjoys interior decorating. Both of her sisters, Leah and Taryn, are swimmers. Amanda placed eighth in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Celebrity car race in 2006.
In November 2007, Beard made her first television commercial for GoDaddy entitled "Shock". It featured her "flashing" the seven Olympic medals she won from 1996–2004. Mark Spitz made a cameo appearance.
In April 2008, she joined Fox Network's popular sports talk program, The Best Damn Sports Show Period as a correspondent, covering major sporting events.
In 2008, Beard participated in an anti-fur campaign for the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). She was photographed nude (again covering her breasts and not exposing her nipples) in front of an American flag. The flag in that photograph is hung incorrectly according the United States Flag Code with the blue field to the upper right. Shortly after the PETA campaign was released, accusations of hypocrisy surfaced. Beard had told a fashion blogger the year before that her favorite shoes were leather sandals, and she had stated during an interview with SmartMoney magazine that she would never buy a low-quality leather jacket.
Beard is a vegetarian. She is married to photographer Sacha Brown. On September 15, 2009, she gave birth to their first child, a boy named Blaise Ray Brown. Beard has written an autobiography "In the Water They Can't See You Cry: A Memoir" in which she describes her path from the top of a sports and modeling career, to depression & drug use, and rebirth through her marriage.
Beard's personal bests in long-course meters are:
100 m breaststroke: 1:07.42 Swimming at the 2003 World Aquatics Championships
200 m breaststroke: 2:22.44 US Olympic Swimming Trials 2004
200 m individual medley: 2:11.70 Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Her official website: http://amandabeard.net
Natalie Coughlin: Natalie Anne Coughlin Hall was born on August 23, 1982. She is an American international swimmer and twelve-time Olympic medalist. Ten days before her 20th birthday in 2002, she became the first woman ever to swim the 100-meter backstroke (long course) in under a minute. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she became the first U.S. female athlete in modern Olympic history to win six medals in one Olympiad, and the first woman ever to win a 100-meter backstroke gold in two consecutive Olympics.
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. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she earned a bronze medal in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay. Her total of twelve Olympic medals tie her with Jenny Thompson and Dara Torres for the most all-time by an American woman Coughlin was born in Vallejo, California, and is of Irish and one quarter Filipino ancestry. Coughlin first began swimming at the local YMCA when she was only 10 months old. She attended St. Catherine of Siena School in Vallejo, for kindergarten through eighth grade, and then Carondelet High School in Concord, California. While in high school in 1998, she became the first swimmer to qualify for the Summer National in all fourteen events. Coughlin broke two individual national high school records in the 200-yard individual medley (1:58.45) and the 100-yard backstroke (52.86). She graduated from Carondelet High School in 2000.
Coughlin attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she swam for coach Teri McKeever's California Golden Bears swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition from 2001 to 2003. During her three years as a Cal Bears swimmer, she won eleven individual NCAA national championships, and a twelfth NCAA relay title. She was recognized as the NCAA Swimmer of the Year for three consecutive years; Sports Illustrated magazine named her its college Female Athlete of the Year. She graduated from the University of California with a bachelor's degree in psychology in 2005 At the ninth World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Coughlin won three medals—one gold, one silver, and one bronze. She won her gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke with Diana Mocanu(Romania) taking the silver and Antje Buschschulte (Germany) taking the bronze. Coughlin won her silver medal in the women's 4x100-meter medley relay, teaming up with Megan Quann, Mary Descenza, and Erin Phenix; the Australians won the gold (Calub, Jones, Thomas, Ryan). Coughlin won her bronze medal in the 50-meter backstroke; fellow American Haley Cope won gold and Antje Buschschulte won the silver.
At the ninth Pan Pacific Championships in Yokohama, Japan, Coughlin won six medals—four golds and two silvers. Coughlin won one of her gold medals in the women's 100-meter backstroke with a time of 59.72, and another in the women's 100-meter butterfly with a time of 57.88. Coughlin won her third gold medal in the women's 100-meter freestyle with a time of 53.99. She won her fourth gold medal in the women's 4x200-meter freestyle relay with Elizabeth Hill, Diana Munz, and Lindsay Benko. She won her silver medals as a member of the second-place U.S. relay teams in the 4x100-meter freestyle and 4x100-meter medley events.
At the tenth World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Coughlin won two medals, including a gold and a silver. Coughlin won her gold medal in the women's 4x100-meter freestyle relay and a silver medal in the 4x100-medley relay.
At the 14th World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, China, Coughlin won three medals–one gold, one silver, and one bronze. She won a gold medal in the women's 4x100-meter medley relay with fellow Americans Rebecca Soni, Dana Vollmer, and Missy Franklin with a time of 3:52.36. She won a silver medal in the women's 4x100-meter freestyle relay with fellow Americans Missy Franklin, Jessica Hardy, and Dana Vollmer with a time of 3:34.47 with the Netherlands touching first with a time of 3:33.96. She won a bronze medal in the women's 100-meter backstroke, her only individual medal at these championships, with a 59.15. Coughlin led for the entire race, when in the last couple meters, Zhao Jing and Anastasia Zueva edged her out.
At the 2012 United States Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, the U.S. qualifying event for the Olympics, the 29-year-old veteran Coughlin found herself in competition with a younger generation of American swimmers. In order to qualify for the U.S team in a given individual event, swimmers are required to finish among the top two. In the finals of the 100-meter backstroke, she finished third behind teenagers Missy Franklin and Rachel Bootsma, and finished seventh in the 100-meter butterfly. Coughlin also competed in the 100-meter freestyle, and finished sixth, qualifying to compete as a member of the U.S. women's team in the preliminaries of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, she swam in the qualifying round of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, and did not swim in the 4x100-meter final, but earned a bronze medal when the U.S. team placed third in the final. It was her twelfth Olympic medal, tying the record previously set by American swimmers Jenny Thompson and Dara Torres for the most career Olympic medals won by a female U.S. athlete.
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.
Coughlin competed in season 9 of Dancing with the Stars with season 1 professional champion, Alec Mazo. She was eliminated on the fifth episodeCoughlin appeared in the 2012
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
Her official website: http://nataliecoughlin.com
Stephanie Rice: Stephanie Louise Rice was born on 17 June 1988.She is an Australian swimmer. She won three gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Rice is trained by Michael Bohl from the St Peters Western Swimming Club in Brisbane. She was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia on 26 January 2009.
Rice was the gold medallist in the 200 metres individual medley at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia where she defeated Olympians Brooke Hanson and Lara Carroll to claim the gold medal in the event in a time of 2:12.90, a personal best by 1.19 sec. She also won the 400m individual medley.
At the 2007 Melbourne World Championships she won a bronze medal in the 200m individual medley in a time of 2 minutes 11.42 seconds, breaking the previous Australian record by a second. American Katie Hoff won the gold in 2:10.13, with Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe in second place. Rice once again placed third, earning her second bronze medal in the 400m individual medley final. In a new personal best time Rice finished in 4:41.19, taking 0.54 sec off her previous best.
Rice continued her strong performance, setting a new personal best time in the 400m individual medley at an Italian meet in June 2007. Rice went a 4:40.79, edging closer to the elusive 4:40 barrier in the event. At the 2007 Japanese Open Championships, Rice smashed her personal best time in the 400m individual medley and finally cracked the 4:40 barrier. In placing second to Zimbabwean champion Kirsty Coventry, Rice set a new Australian and Commonwealth record of 4:37.18, a personal best by 3.61 sec.
At the 2008 Australian Olympic trials, Rice broke the world record in the 400 m individual medley. Rice stopped the clock at 4 minutes 31.46 seconds, 1.43 seconds under American Katie Hoff's mark of 4:32.89. On 29 June 2008, at the U.S. Olympic Trials, Hoff regained the world record from Rice with a time of 4:31.12. Rice claimed her second world record of the meet, when she broke the 200 m individual medley world record, clocking 2 minutes 8.92 seconds to slash almost a full second off the previous record held by China's Wu Yanyan.
At the Beijing Olympic Games, Rice received her first-ever Olympic medal, Australia's first gold medal of the games and its 400th summer Olympic medal, winning the 400m individual medley in a time of 4 minutes 29.45 seconds. In the process she reclaimed the world record from Hoff bettering the mark by 1.67 seconds, thus becoming the first woman to break the 4:30 in the event, (Kirsty Coventry also went under 4:30 in taking the silver).
In 2009 World Championships, Rice began the meet with a solid performance in the 200m IM. Despite losing her world record, she sliced 1.42s off her personal best time while capturing a silver medal. Experimenting with the 200 freestyle did not end well as she failed to make the final. With the absence of Linda Mackenzie, Kylie Palmer and Meagan Nay, the team was never in medal contention, finishing 5th. Rice retained her 400 IM record however finished with a bronze in the final. She was awarded a silver medal for her contributions in the medley relay heats.
Awards
2008 Telstra Australian Swimmer of the Year.
Swimming World Magazine named Rice as (female) 2008 World Swimmer of the Year as well as Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year
Rice attended Clayfield College in her high school years in Brisbane, Queensland. She was romantically linked with fellow Australian swimmer and 50m freestyle world-record-holder Eamon Sullivan. They ended their 2 year relationship in July 2008, just prior to the Beijing Olympics.The couple lived in separate states of Australia (Sullivan in WA and Rice in Queensland) and said the stress of living so far apart and the impending Olympics caused the split, but have conceded that the two are still good friends.
Her official website: http://www.stephanierice.com.au
Federica Pellegrini: was born on 5 August 1988. She is an Italian swimmer. A native of Mirano, in the province of Venice, she used to hold the women's 200 m freestyle (long course and short course) and 400 m (long course) freestyle world record, but finished fifth in both events at the London 2012 Olympics. At the 2009 World Championships in Rome, Pellegrini became the first woman ever to breach the 4 minute barrier in 400 m freestyle with the time 3:59.15. Pellegrini is the first female Olympic champion in the history of Italian swimming; she is also the only Italian swimmer to have set world records in more than one event.
Pellegrini's first international podium was at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, where she won the silver medal in the 200 m freestyle at the age of 16, becoming the youngest Italian athlete ever to win an Olympic medal in an individual event.
Pellegrini's first long course gold medal came at the 2008 European Championships in Eindhoven, where she won the 400 m freestyle setting a world record (4:01.53).
At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, she arrived as the world-record holder and favourite for the gold medal in the 400 m freestyle, but only finished 5th in the final. On the same day, she recovered from that disappointment by setting a world record in the heats of the 200 m freestyle; in the final, she broke her own world record (1:54.82) and won her first Olympic gold medal.
Pellegrini also proved her strength in short course events at the 2008 European SC Championships in Rijeka when she won the gold medal in the 200 m freestyle at a world-record pace (1:51.85). At the 2009 Mediterranean Games in Pescara, Pellegrini broke the world record in the 400 m freestyle with a time of 4:00.41 to better Joanne Jackson's record of 4:00.66.
At the 2009 World Championships in Rome, Pellegrini broke the world record again in the 400 m freestyle with a time of 3:59.15, winning the gold medal and in doing so becoming the first female swimmer to break the 4 minute barrier in the event. In 2010 Pellegrini announced that she would be working with Laure Manadou's former coach, Philippe Lucas.
After a very successful 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, Federica parted ways with her French coach and began working with Federico Bonifacenti.
May 2012 saw her surprisingly excluded from the final of the 400 meters freestyle at the 2012 European Aquatics Championships, after winning two gold medals in other events (200 metre freestyle and 4×200 m freestyle relay) and a bronze medal in 4×100 freestyle relay).
At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Pellegrini failed to medal in any of her individual events, finishing fifth in the 400 meters freestyle (4:04.50) and the 200 meters freestyle (1:56.73).
Since August, 2011, she has been in a relationship with fellow swimmer, Filippo Magnini, having previously been engaged to another teammate, Luca Marin.
She currently holds 3 world records (WR), 3 European records (ER) and 10 National records (NR).
Laure Manaudou: Laure Manaudou was born on 9 October 1986 in Villeurbanne, Rhône.She is a French Olympic, world and European champion swimmer. She has held the world record in freestyle events between 200 and 1500 meter. She is the daughter of a French father and a Dutch mother and the older sister of Florent Manaudou who is also an Olympic gold medalist swimmer.
She won the gold medal in the women's 400 meter freestyle at the 2004 Athens Olympics. It was France's first gold medal ever in women's swimming and the first swimming gold medal won by a French athlete since Jean Boiteux's victory in the 400 meter men's freestyle event at Helsinki in 1952. Manaudou won the silver medal in the women's 800 meter freestyle at the Athens Olympics. In that race, she had a quick start but was passed down the stretch by Ai Shibata of Japan. She also won the bronze medal in the women's 100 meter backstroke, thus becoming only the second Frenchwoman to win three medals in a single Olympic Games, Summer or Winter. The first one was the track and field athlete Micheline Ostermeyer in London in 1948. Manaudou was by far the best swimmer on the French team, but she did not have the team support to win a medal in the women's 4×200 m freestyle relay.
Manaudou is currently tied for third (three medals altogether) on the all-time list of French multiple female Winter or Summer Olympic medal winners along with Micheline Ostermeyer, Marielle Goitschel, Pascale Trinquet-Hachin, Perrine Pelen, Anne Briand-Bouthiaux, Marie-José Pérec, Félicia Ballanger and Camille Muffat. The all-time leader is the fencer Laura Flessel-Colovic, who has five Olympic medals.
On 17 September 2009, at 22 years of age, Manaudou announced through the newspaper Le Parisien her retirement from competitive swimming. She was quoted as saying, "It came to me little by little. I didn’t make it on impulse. It has matured slowly.” In October 2010, she returned to training in the United States with the Auburn University Tigers swim team. She made her return to competition on July 14, 2011 in Tigers colours at a small swimming meet in Athens, Georgia in the United States, where she set a personal record in the 50 m freestyle event (25.84 s).
Manaudou competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics in three events - 100 m backstroke, 200 m backstroke, and the 4 x 100 m medley relay. She failed to advance from the first round heats in all the three events. However, she was poolside on August 3 as her younger brother Florent won a surprise victory in the men's 50 m freestyle final, and embraced him following his victory.
The weekly magazine Paris Match ran a cover story on Manaudou in its 5–11 April 2007 issue.From 2001–2007, Manaudou was coached by Philippe Lucas. She competed for the Melun-Dammarie club until 2006, when she moved to Canet-en-Roussillon.On 9 May 2007, she announced at a press conference at the Canet-en-Roussillon swim club that she was leaving her coach Philippe Lucas to move to Italy and to train with the club Lapresse Nuoto, located in Turin. She added, however, that she would continue to swim for France.
On 6 August it was reported that Manaudou had been removed from her Italian-based team. The split is said to have been triggered by a fallout between Manaudou and LaPresse Nuoto club chief executive Paolo Penso. Penso is believed to have questioned Manaudou's attitude to training (Reuters/L'Equipe).
Manaudou won four medals in the European Championships of 2007, despite reported conflicts between her and Luca Marin, her Italian ex-boyfriend. The same day, lewd pictures of Laure Manaudou started to propagate on the Internet. Marin denied being the culprit. On April 2, 2010, she and her boyfriend, Frédérick Bousquet, also a world class swimmer, welcomed their first child, daughter Manon.
Accomplishments:
Between June 2004 and April 2008, Manaudou remained unbeaten in the 400 metres freestyle, winning 23 finals in succession.
2007 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia 200 meters 1:55.52 World Record.
2006 European Championships in Budapest Hungary 400 meters 4:02.13 World Record.
Her official website: http://www.lauremanaudou.fr
Zsuzsanna Jakabos: Zsuzsanna Jakabos was born on April 3, 1989. She is a Hungarian swimmer, who three times competed for her native country at the Summer Olympics: 2004, 2008, and 2012.
She won European Short Course Champions in Women's 200 m Butterfly and European Short Course Champions in Women's 400 m Individual Medley.
Her nickname is Zsu. She speaks English, German, Hungarian. Her club is ANK Uszoklub, Pecs, Hungary. She won her first medal as a skier.
Zsuzsanna Jakabos has attracted the attention of the media for her lipstick and polished nails, while competing for a medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games. It took a while to collect some nice pictures, though. Newspapers tend to publish low size, low quality photos. And there is not much else on-line. So, here is my gallery of high resolution pictures of Zsuzsanna Jakabos. The most beautiful athlete of these Games, the fairest of the Olympic Realm. Her hometown is Pecs, Hungary and she did High School from University of Pecs.
Zsuzsanna Jakabos was featured on the cover page of EVA July 2012 Hungary. Her height is 6'1'' and she weighs about 146 lbs.
Beatriz Feres and Branca Feres: Beatriz Feres and Branca Feres were born on February 22, 1988 at Brazil. The are Brazilian synchronized swimmers, models, and actresses. They are identical twins.
The Feres sisters started practicing swimming and gymnastics at the age of three, and began synchronized swimming at the age of seven. They were champions of Brazil in both juvenile and adult categories, and reached second place in the 2005 Pan American Junior Games in Orlando.
The Feres sisters competed for Brazil in the 2007 Pan American Games in synchronized swimming. They were rumored to be competing as synchronized swimmers in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, but they did not.
The Feres sisters are also models and have appeared in a number of photo shoots, including one for Brazilian magazine VIP in July 2008, where they appeared on the cover.
This pair were foreign exchange students at Roosevelt High School in Seattle, Washington. When outside the match, their main activity is modelling. They have appeared in many magazine covers, including VIP and Maxim. They just 22-year-old right now.
Beatriz Moreira Feres says on her site she loves to eat white chocolate and sashimi. Sites and personal communities: http://twitter.com/BiaeBrancaFeres
Their official website: http://biaebranca.com.br/
Anastasia Davydova: Anastasia Semyonovna Davydova was born on February 2, 1983 in Moscow.she is a Russian competitor in synchronized swimming and five-time Olympic champion.
She won gold medals in the duet competition with Anastasia Ermakova at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and was part of the Russian gold medal team in the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics. After winning the 2012 Olympic gold medal she announced that she would retire to take up coaching.
In a sport that usually forces athletes to be patient as they build international reputations, Anastasia Davydova did not have to wait very long to move to the top. She won her first international medal as an 18-year-old at the 2001 World Championships in duet with her partner, Anastasia Ermakova. In 2002, at 19-years-old, the pair became European champs. The two started working and competing together as juniors in 1998; because they were very successful, judges were already familiar with them by the time they became seniors.
Butterflies galore
Davydova—nicknamed “Asya”—began taking synchronized swimming lessons at age 6, when her parents first took her to the nearby pool. An only child, she attended a special sports school in Moscow, which she graduated from in the spring of 2002. She went on to study at the Moscow Institute of Economics, Politics, and Law. Davydova took a break from synchronized swimming in 2009 and started coaching young athletes at her hometown club. She has a tattoo of 17 butterflies on her back that has to be covered up before competition.
At her first major senior international event, Davydova placed second with Ermakova in duet at the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan—the only team to beat them was the Japanese pair. At that event, she also led a team of juniors to the world title in the team event. Later that year, Davydova claimed the junior world championship with Ermakova in duet. She won her first senior championship gold medal with Ermakova at the 2002 European Championships in Berlin, where they performed a nearly flawless routine (including five perfect 10s in the final free program). Davydova then went on to claim the team title in Berlin with two perfect 10s. At the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona, Davydova and Ermakova won their first senior world duet title; the Russian team was also victorious. Davydova won team and duet at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Athens in April 2004 and the European Championships in Madrid in May 2004.
Along with their win at the 2003 World Championships, Davydova and Ermakova won gold at the 2005 and 2007 World Championships (in both the duet technical and duet free events in 2007), the 2006 World Cup and the 2006 European Championships.
With Ermakova, Davydova won gold in Athens with an impeccable routine, scoring a perfect 50 for artistic impression (receiving a score of ten from all five judges). The pair again won duet gold in Beijing, earning a combined 99.251 and all perfect 10s for technical merit. The Russian team also won gold in 2008, leaving Davydova with a record four gold synchro medals.
After Ermakova retired, Davydova stepped aside to make room for a new duo. Today, she still competes with the Russian team. She could tie the synchronized swimming career medals record if the Russian squad places in the team competition, and a first-place finish would place her on top of the career gold list. London will be Davydova’s third Olympic Games.
Davydova and her longtime duet partner, Anastasia Ermakova started competing together as juniors in 1998. In 2001 they won their first international medal by winning silver in duet at Worlds. A year later they won their first senior national championship gold medal at Europeans in Berlin, where they performed a nearly flawless routine (five perfect 10s in the final free program). The duo went on to claim the duet title at the 2003 Worlds in Barcelona, where the Russian team was also victorious. As for training, they generally spend eight hours in the pool each day and spend an additional ten hours a week training out of the pool. Davydova lives with her team at a training camp outside of Moscow.
Davydova started synchronized swimming when she was six years old after her parents took her to a nearby pool. Growing up in the sport, Davydova graduated from Moscow University in 2002 with a degree in economics.Her height is 5’6” (1.69 m) and she weighs about 119 lbs (54 kg).
Haley Cope: Haley Cope was born on April 11, 1979. She is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder. She won a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics, eight world championship medals, and held a world record in the 50-meter backstroke.
Clark swam at the University of California, Berkeley from 1998 to 2001. In 2000, she was named the Pac-10 Conference swimmer of the year, and helped lead California to a fourth-place finish nationally. Clark was the second of three consecutive conference swimmers of the year from Berkeley; Marylyn Chiang in 1999, herself in 2000, and Natalie Coughlin in 2001, 2002, and 2003. At the 2000 NCAA national championships in Indianapolis, she swam the 50 metre backstroke in 27.25 seconds, breaking Sandra Völker's short course world record. She graduated in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in mass communications. In 2001, she won a gold medal in the 50 metre backstroke at the World Aquatics Championship, and two medals at the final Goodwill Games. Her 50 metre backstroke performance at the Goodwill Games was a record time for the competition.
After graduating from Berkeley, Cope continued her swimming career, winning her second short course worlds title at the 2002 Short Course World Swimming Championships held in Moscow. She won gold medal in the 100 backstroke, and two silver medals in the 50 backstroke, and the 4x100 metre medley relay, in which she swam the backstroke leg. In 2003, she swam at her second long course World Championships in Barcelona, where she won a silver medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay.
Cope's last major international competition was in October 2004, at the 2004 Short Course World Swimming Championships in Indianapolis. In Indianapolis, she repeated as champion in the 100 backstroke,as well as winning the 50 backstroke. As part of the American team, she won a silver medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay.
Clark married her former coach, Brian Clark, in 2002, and has three children. She is currently operating a swimming school in Chico. Clark posed nude for the September 2004 issue of Playboy magazine.
Her achievements:
2004 USA Olympic Swimming Team
World Long Course Champions in Women's 50 m Backstroke
World Short Course Champions in Women's 50 m Backstroke
World Short Course Champions in Women's 100 m Backstroke
Amanda Beard: Amanda Ray Beard was born on October 29, 1981.She is an American swimmer and a seven-time Olympic medalist (two gold, four silver, one bronze). She is a former world record holder in the 200-meter breaststroke (long course).
Beard's success have earned her the American Swimmer of the Year Award twice. She has won a total of twenty-one medals in major international competition, five gold, thirteen silver, and three bronze spanning the Olympics, the World Championships, the Pan Pacific Championships, and the Summer Universiade.
Beard made her first Olympic appearance at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games at the age of 14, while still a student at Irvine High School in Irvine, California. She was often photographed clutching her teddy bear, even on the medal stand. Beard became the second-youngest Olympic medalist in American swimming history when she won three medals in Atlanta—one gold and two silver.
In August, 2010, she came out of retirement to compete at the 2010 Conoco Phillips National Championships. She finished second in the 200 breast finals at 2:26.50, qualifying her for the Pan Pac Team to represent the USA later in the month.
In the 100 breast, Amanda Beard swam a 1:08.72 in prelims and 1:09.12 in finals, finishing 6th.
After the US Nationals, Beard and Natalie Coughlin were nominated co-captains of Team USA once again. During the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, Amanda Beard signed up for her two signature events, the 100 m and the 200 m breaststroke. Beard qualified for finals in both events, but failed to medal. She was fifth in the 100 breast (1:07.49) and fifth in the 200 breast (2:24.30).
Beard failed to qualify for the 2012 Olympic team after finishing 5th in the 200 meter breaststoke at the Olympic Swimming Trials.
Her modeling work has included appearances in FHM,the 2006 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, and the July 2007 issue of Playboy magazine, in which she posed nude.
She is a spokeswoman for Defenders of Wildlife, and enjoys interior decorating. Both of her sisters, Leah and Taryn, are swimmers. Amanda placed eighth in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Celebrity car race in 2006.
In November 2007, Beard made her first television commercial for GoDaddy entitled "Shock". It featured her "flashing" the seven Olympic medals she won from 1996–2004. Mark Spitz made a cameo appearance.
In April 2008, she joined Fox Network's popular sports talk program, The Best Damn Sports Show Period as a correspondent, covering major sporting events.
In 2008, Beard participated in an anti-fur campaign for the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). She was photographed nude (again covering her breasts and not exposing her nipples) in front of an American flag. The flag in that photograph is hung incorrectly according the United States Flag Code with the blue field to the upper right. Shortly after the PETA campaign was released, accusations of hypocrisy surfaced. Beard had told a fashion blogger the year before that her favorite shoes were leather sandals, and she had stated during an interview with SmartMoney magazine that she would never buy a low-quality leather jacket.
Beard is a vegetarian. She is married to photographer Sacha Brown. On September 15, 2009, she gave birth to their first child, a boy named Blaise Ray Brown. Beard has written an autobiography "In the Water They Can't See You Cry: A Memoir" in which she describes her path from the top of a sports and modeling career, to depression & drug use, and rebirth through her marriage.
Beard's personal bests in long-course meters are:
100 m breaststroke: 1:07.42 Swimming at the 2003 World Aquatics Championships
200 m breaststroke: 2:22.44 US Olympic Swimming Trials 2004
200 m individual medley: 2:11.70 Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Her official website: http://amandabeard.net
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