Natalie Coughlin
Swimmer Natalie Coughlin capped a stellar collegiate career by winning five gold medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Coughlin grew up in California and went to the University of California at Berkeley, where she set a raft of records and was named the NCAA's Swimmer of the Year in 2001, 2002 and 2003. A sprint specialist who is especially strong at 100 meters, she also is the first woman to swim the 100-meter backstroke in under one minute. She became a major story with her success in the 2004 Olympics, where she won two gold medals, two silver and one bronze. She parlayed her swimming fame and winning smile into a job as an analyst with NBC at the 2006 Winter Olympics. She then qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where she won the gold medal in the 100 meter Backstroke event with a personal best of 58.96 seconds.
Extra credit: Her name is pronounced COG-lin, according to USA Swimming... She is 5'8" tall... She co-wrote (with Michael Silver) the 2006 book Golden Girl: How Natalie Coughlin Fought Back, Challenged Conventional Wisdom, and Became America's Olympic Champion... Coughlin finished her college swimming career in 2004 and graduated in 2005 with a degree in psychology... Coughlin was born in Emeryville, California, according to USA Swimming, but grew up in the towns of Vallejo and Concord.
Blog posts mentioning Natalie Coughlin:
Olympic Swimmer Update