Top Celebrities and Sports Talent

April 14, 2009

Franziska van Almsick

Filed under: Swimming

Franziska Van Almsick
Photo: hollywood-celebrity-pictures.com

Franziska van Almsick was born on April 5, 1978 in East Berlin, Germany. She is a German swimmer. She won her first Olympic medals in 1992 at the Barcelona Olympic Games aged fourteen. Her career begun at the SC Dynamo Berlin. Over her career, Van Almsick earned ten career Olympic medals, none of them gold. She ended her career at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004.

In 1993, she was named by Swimming World magazine as the Female World Swimmer of the Year. Her son Don Hugo was born on January 7, 2007.

In the 1996 Olympic final, van Almsick finished second to Claudia Poll of Costa Rica. Four days later, van Almsick swam the leadoff leg for Germany in the 4x200m relay. In Atlanta, she picked up another silver medal in that relay, as well as a bronze in the 4x100m relay, and she finished fifth in the 100m freestyle and sixth in the medley relay. At the 2000 Sydney Games, van Almsick swan the third leg in the 4x100m relay as Germany missed the medal podium by only 1/100 of a second. After contesting the 200 free and the 200m butterfly, she swam the leadoff leg in the 4x200m relay, earning yet another bronze medal.

Franziska Van Almsick
Photo: i.a.cnn.net

Finally, she swam the butterfly leg in the medley relay, as Germany placed fourth, only 17 hundredths of a second short of the bronze medal position. Van Almsick’s, career medal total stands at four silver and four bronze. At the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, she added two medals to her tally: a bronze in the 4x200m freestyle relay and another bronze in the 4x100m medley relay. She also finished 4th in the 4x100m freestyle and 5th in the 200m freestyle
 
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August 16, 2008

Michael Phelps

Filed under: Swimming

Michael Phelps
Top Oympic gold medals Athlete from Beijing.
Photo: wikimedia.org

Michael Phelps was born on June 30, 1985. He is an American swimmer and 14-time Olympic gold medalist, who currently holds seven world records in swimming. Michael Fred Phelps holds the record for the most gold medals won at a single Olympics; a total of eight, surpassing Mark Spitz, also a swimmer. Overall, Phelps has won 16 Olympic medals: six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In winning these medals, he has twice equaled Soviet gymnast Alexander Dityatin’s record of eight medals (of any type) at a single Olympics; Dityatin garnered eight at the 1980 Summer Olympics, while Phelps won eight medals at both the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Olympics. Out of his eight gold medals from Beijing, five were won in individual events, tying the record for individual gold medals at a single Games originally set by Eric Heiden in the 1980 Winter Olympics and equaled by Vitaly Scherbo at the 1992 Summer Games. Phelps ranks second in total career Olympic medals, after Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina, who won a total of 18 medals (nine gold) spanning three Olympic Games.

 

 

May 26, 2007

John Naber

Filed under: Swimming

book John Naber

Although he didn’t begin swimming competitively until he was thirteen, Naber made good on his prophecy in 1976, winning gold medals in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke events, the 4 by 200-meter freestyle relay, and the 4 by 100-meter medley relay. He also won a silver medal in the 200-meter freestyle.

The 6-foot-6, 195-pound Naber swam world record times in both backstrokes, 55.49 seconds in the 100-meter and 1:59.19 in the 200-meter, making him the first swimmer to break the 2-minute barrier in that event. His world records stood until 1983, an unusually long period in modern swimming.

Swimming for the University of Southern California, Naber won the 500-yard freestyle in 1974 and 1975 and both backstroke events from 1974 through 1977. He also swam on five winning relay teams. His ten individual titles was the NCAA record until 1987, and his total of fifteen championships is still the record.

Naber won a total of eighteen national individual championships and was on seven relay champions. He won three gold medals at the 1975 Pan-American Games. He was named winner of the Sullivan Award as the outstanding amateur athlete of 1977.



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