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Natalie Coughlin was born August 23, 1982 in Concord, California. She now lives in Berkeley, California. She is five feet, eight inches tall. She is an 11-time U.S. National champion. Her best events are backstroke, freestyle, butterfly, and individual medley. |
| In 1998, she was the World’s National High School Swimmer of the Year at Carondelet. Also, while swimming for UC –Berkeley, she was awarded NCAA Swimmer of the Year two times. Natalie tore her labrum, a muscle in her shoulder, in 2000 before the Olympics Trial. Therefore, she missed qualifying for the Olympic Games. |
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She was a gold medalist at the 2001 World Championships. She received these gold medals for the 100m backstroke and the 800m freestyle relay. In one meet, the 2002 Summer Nationals, she became the first swimmer since 1978 to win five National titles. Natalie also established on American record and a world record at this meet. |
| Also, in the year of 2002, Coughlin was a finalist, out of five, for the 2002 Sullivan Award. This award says that he/she is the top amateur athlete throughout the whole nation. She is a world-record holder (long course, which is a 50m pool) in over ten events. Some of these events are 50m, 100m, and 200m backstroke. |
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In the 2004 Olympic Games, Natalie Coughlin received five medals, two gold medals, two silver medals, and one bronze medal. In this Olympics, she became the third American woman to win five medals in one swim meet. Also, became the first woman to get a time under one minute, her time was 59.58, in the 100m backstroke. |
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She earned golds in the 100m backstroke and 800m freestyle relay. She won silver medals in the 400m freestyle relay and 400 medley relay. The one bronze that Natalie got was in the 100m freestyle. She also did great at the 2005 World Championships. She won one gold, two silver medals, and two bronze medals. |
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