Happy Halloween!! Hope everyone is eating and enjoying a ton of yummy candy.

This Saturday the sporty spotlight shines bright on eighteen-year-old college swimmer, Elizabeth Longo. Today, Elizabeth dishes on determination, lessons, and how she balances school and swimming. Check out her interview and gorgeous pic below.

Name: Elizabeth Longo

Age: 18

Sport(s): Swimming

Hometown: Bartlett, Tennessee

High School/Middle School/College: University of Memphis

What’s your fave sport? Swimming

How many years have you been playing your fave sport? 3 competitive

What is your fave sporty moment or memory?

Qualifying for the county swim meet.

What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned from playing your sport?

Determination

What lessons have you learned about work ethic from your sport?

Rule 1: If you are not bleeding, nothing is broken, and you’re not dying, get back in the pool. (The 12 Golden Rules of Swimming) The same applies to school and work.

What have you learned about teamwork?

A relay team is only as fast as it’s slowest swimmer

How do you balance school and sports?

School comes first and training fits in around classes. I also get up and going while most people are still sleeping. I tend to get more done before noon than some people do all day.

List some awards or accolades you’ve received.

18^th in Shelby County High Schools for the 100-yard backstroke for the 2008-2009 season

What is your biggest goal?

I want to break the world record for a woman to swim the English Channel (the current record is 8 hours and 45 minutes) before I turn 21. Right now, I plan to make my attempt when I’m 20.

Who’s your fave athlete, both male and female?

Male- Apolo Anton Ohno

Female- Natalie Couglin

What’s the girliest thing you like to do? (Pretty Tough signature question)

Shopping for cute clothes (Is there anything better?) and gossiping about guys with my friends.

Thanks, Elizabeth! Good luck with the world record. Sounds exciting! J

Do you or do you know someone who wants to be spotlighted? Send an email to kerimikulski(at)gmail(dot)com.

Time to trick or treat with my little Nemo…  :)

Enjoy!

Here’s Natalie’s segment from this week’s show for those who missed it:

Throughout the season, Natalie will be sharing her DWTS experience through her Twitter (@nataliecoughlin) and Facebook pages so be sure to follow along and VOTE for Natalie all season long.

Natalie and Alec’s official voting number is 1-800-VOTE4-13 or 1-800-868-3413. You may also vote online at www.abc.com starting from the opening of each episode on the East Coast and until 12:00 Noon, ET the following day.

Coughlin, who has made a big splash in the Olympics, will attempt to excel in the ballroom during the upcoming season of ABC’s “DWTS.” She was among the 16 celebrities named to the “Dancing with the Stars” cast, as announced Monday morning. She’ll compete against former Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay, pop singer Donny Osmond, and former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin.

Other hopefuls include singers Mya, Macy Gray and Aaron Carter; actors Melissa Joan Hart, Debi Mazar and Ashley Hamilton (son of George); models Joanna Krupa and Kathy Ireland; reality stars Kelly Osbourne and Mark Dacascos (”the Chairman” on Food Network’s “Iron Chef America”); mixed martial artist Chuck Liddell; and professional snowboarder Louie Vito.

The contestants were announced on Monday’s “Good Morning America” by “Dancing” host Tom Bergeron, who also unveiled a new competitive twist.

“In the middle of our season, over three weeks, we’re going to have double eliminations,” said Bergeron. “We’ll lose about half of our cast within that period. It will be a ballroom bloodbath.”

Coughlin  represented the United States at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics. In 2008, she became the first American female athlete to win six medals in one Olympics.

After taking a break from swimming competition after the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Coughlin will be extending that break with time logged on the dance floor. She appears to be in good company on “Dancing” as three Olympians have won the reality show’s coveted title. Speed-skater Apolo Anton Ohno captured the prize in Season 4, while figure skate Kristi Yamaguchi prevailed in Season 6 and gymnast Shawn Johnson won the disco-ball trophy in Season 8.

The ninth season of the hit ABC show premieres Sept. 21 with a three night event.

Update: Natalie will be paired with Alec Mazo on this season of DWTS.

Dara Torres

Dara Torres continues to defy age and expectations when it comes to her performance in the pool.

In a world record time trial attempt in the women’s 50 fly, Torres raced to a 25.50. The performance gave her a third-straight progression of the American record, lowering her time of 25.72 set in College Station, Texas in May. Earlier that day, she broke Jenny Thompson’s 2003 record of 26.00 with a 25.84 during prelims.

Torres missed the world record of 25.33 set by Marleen Veldhuis of The Netherlands in April of this year. But, her 25.50 moved her into third all time. She stands behind Velduis and Sweden’s Therese Alshammar (25.46), while moving in front of Sweden’s Anna-Karin Kammerling (25.57).

The 42-year-old swimmer and 28-time U.S. championship winner also won her 16th national title in the 50-free swim, finishing the competition in 24.43 seconds, and beating two other female swimmers half her age. That gives her a spot on the world championship team, which will compete in Rome later this month. Torres blew many 20-something swimmers out of the water in last year’s Beijing Olympics.

Despite the fact Torres has a body many of us could only dream about having, it’s starting to give her a run for her money. She had surgeries on her right shoulder, left thumb and left knee, and she’ll have another knee surgery later this year. Torres has a packed schedule, which includes spending as much time as possible with her three-year-old daughter, Tessa, as well as various speaking engagements and sponsor commitments.

“The adrenaline is kicking in, so I don’t think about the knee that much,” Torres said. “I just try to push it out of my head. Age is just a number, right? Everything I do is for Tessa. She enjoys coming out and watching me swim.”

Fort Collins swimmer Erin Popovich was named Paralympian of the Year for 2008 by the U.S. Olympic Committee Jan. 22. At her third Paralympic Games in Beijing, Popovich collected four gold medals and two silver, bringing her career total to 14 gold and five silver.

“It’s a huge honor,” Popovich said. “Beijing was amazing. To be able to compete in the ‘Water Cube’ was an experience in itself. To be picked out of all the great accomplishments the U.S. delegation had in the Paralympics is very exciting for me.”

Popovich, a Colorado State graduate, also was the 2004 USOC Paralympian of the Year. In 2005, she was named the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Sportswoman of the Year, and she won an ESPY award for best female athlete with a disability. She returned to training in the pool this week and has applied to several medical schools around the country, hoping to remain in Colorado.

“I love Colorado,” Popovich said. “If I were allowed to stay here, it would be wonderful.”

In other USOC awards announced Jan. 22, swimmer Michael Phelps was named sportsman of the year, swimmer Natalie Coughlin and gymnast Nastia Liukin were co-winners of the sportswoman award and the men’s volleyball team was named team of the year.

Phelps won a record eight gold medals in Beijing. Coughlin set five American records, one an Olympic record. Liukin won the women’s all-around gold medal and four others. The men’s volleyball team did not lose a match.

Tennis:
Serena Williams withdraws from Australia’s Hopman Cup with hamstring injury

Soccer:
UNC soccer team wins Women’s College Cup adding to dynasty

The U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team captured the 2008 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup with a 2-1 victory against Korea DPR.

Golf:
Michelle Wie earns LPGA card as Lewis wins Q-School

Hoops:
Connecticut remains atop AP poll. North Carolina is second followed by Stanford, Texas A&M, OU and Texas.

TCU shocks California and ends school-record winning streak

No. 8 Notre Dame stays perfect, knocks off No. 20 Purdue 62-51

No. 9 Texas knocks Ole Miss from unbeaten ranks

The #1 girls high school team in the country is upset

Volleyball:
Penn State sweeps Yale, advances to regional semis

Swimming:
Dagny Knutson breaks American Record at 2008 USA Swimming Short Course Nats
Mary DeScenza wins twice at USA Swimming Short Course Nationals

Worth reading:
Michael Wilbon on the end of the Houston Comets

November 19, 2008

Olympic champions Natalie Coughlin and Michael Phelps were the big winners at the event, which was hosted by Bob Costas and celebrated the accomplishments of the totally awesome 2008 Olympic Swim Team.

Coughlin won top honors on the women’s side, taking home the Female Athlete of the Year trophy. Coughlin earned six medals at the Olympics – one gold, two silver, and three bronze, becoming the first woman in any sport, to win six medals in one Olympiad. In 2008, Coughlin broke the 100m back world record three times and set a total of 11 American records.

“This was a great year,” Coughlin said. “This year was really special with so many records being broken and I’m really glad to have been a part of it.”

Phelps’ record-setting performance in Beijing earned him three Golden Goggle Awards at USA Swimming’s annual banquet including Male Athlete of the Year and Male Performance of the Year.

Women’s swimmer Rebecca Soni was honored with two Golden Goggle awards, the Breakout Performer of the Year Award and the Female Performance of the Year Award for her stellar performance in the 200m breast at the Olympics in 2008. The USC senior took home a total of three Olympic medals in Beijing, a gold in the 200m breast and silvers in the 100m breast and 400m medley relay. Soni broke the world record in the 200m breast, and defeated heavy favorite Leisel Jones of Australia to win her first gold.

Dara Torres, 41, who won three silver medals at the Beijing Olympics, said at the New York banquet  that if she can stay healthy, she hopes to race at the world championships next summer.

Among the celebrity guests in attendance tonight were Donald Trump, Tiki Barber, David Blaine, Ana Ortiz (”Ugly Betty’), Heather Matarazzo, as well as Olympic legends Summer Sanders, Pablo Morales, Gary Hall Jr., Lenny Krayzelburg, Jenny Thompson, and Rowdy Gaines.

In other swim news, the AP reports that Katie Hoff is now training with Michael Phelps’s coach, Golden Goggle winner Bob Bowman, who has returned to the North Baltimore Aquatic Club after four years at the University of Michagan:

Swimmer Katie Hoff has changed coaches after a disappointing Olympics in which the six-time world champion failed to win a gold medal in a half dozen events.

September 24, 2008

When a group of elite level athletes started their events in China last month, they did so with at least two goals. The first, of course, was to exert maximum effort and, with luck, come home with a medal. And the second was to make a good showing for the charities they support.

Toyota calls these athletes Engines of Change and they developed a program last year to support them while promoting healthy living and a commitment to community. The Engines of Change program, a nod to Toyota’s hybrid technology, is designed to interact with various athletic communities, namely triathlon, swimming and cycling by educating and engaging participants, supporters and spectators in the program through a wide range of online and offline activities, including an interactive, on-site display of Toyota’s hybrid vehicles (that last part was from their press release in case you couldn’t tell).

Toyota’s support for athletes comes in several forms. First, there’s a bit of financial support that’s intended to help the athletes focus more on training and less on personal financial concerns. Second, there’s a bit of financial support directed toward the charities and community activities in which each athlete is involved. And third, the company supports their sports, through events and sponsorships, as they train in the U.S.

Among the current Engines of Change are swimmers Dara Torres and Tara Kirk and triathlete Sara Haskins. Dara Torres’ donates money to the Eating Disorders Alliance; Sarah Haskins’ supports Jenny’s Light, a foundation for postpartum illnesses and swimmer Tara donated money to the Bremerton Foundation in support of her high school.

These athletes are interested in doing well at competitions while doing good at home. We’re impressed by their hard work and dedication, and we wish them luck in each magnificent endeavor.

To see what other charities athletes support, check out Random Acts of Kindness

The 41-year-old Torres modeled two looks for the presentation of Nolan’s spring collection at the designer’s Chelsea studio. Her first look, an old-style swimsuit featuring a blue-and-white striped tank top and navy swim shorts, which she modeled carrying her two year old daughter, showed off her chiseled legs. Her second look, a dancing dress made of black jersey and silk taffeta, reflected ageless sophistication.

Wonder what’s more nerve-wracking? Walking the runway or swimming at the Olympics?

In other news, Cole Haan announced that  three-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova will be the face of a new sportswear clothing line debuting in the spring of 2009.

The new line, called Cole Haan Sporting, will include men’s and women’s footwear and accessories. Items will include flats, boat shoes, duffel bags and tennis racquet bags and will for between $115 and $550.

Sharapova, 21, will collaborate on the fall 2009 season, the company said. The former world number one has a longstanding passion for fashion and is considered a style icon. So it seems fitting that Cole Haan Sporting (a subsidiary of Nike) will embody sport style with a collection inspired by nautical, court, track, and golf.

“Cole Haan Sporting proves that fashion and technology can work together to change the way women think about and wear sport-inspired product,” said Sharapova. “I look forward to working with Cole Haan to bring new innovations to this leading fashion brand with such a rich history.”

Can’t wait to see some of the pieces in the collection. What do you think of the partnership?

Olympic swimmer Amanda Beard captured her first gold medal when she was just 14 years old, making U.S. swimming history as the second-youngest gold medalist ever. She competed in her second Olympics in 2004 in Athens and is heading to Beijing for the 2008 Games. At the height of her training, she’s in the pool four-plus hours a day. Find out how Shape Magazine helped get her hair back in peak condition.

You may not be in the water four or more hours a day – but if you’re a swimmer, you know the potential hair care problems.

The sun, coupled with chlorinated water, makes swimmers hair dry, brittle and in need of serious attention. For anyone who spends long hours in an outdoor pool, it’s critical to rehydrate the hair. It’s also a good idea to avoid overlayering too much to reduce exposure to lots of ends which eventually will split and look dull and frizzy.

In a quick search for great hair care advice, we came across some common hair-care myths. For example, do frequent trims make hair grow faster? No. Does switching shampoos make your hair healthier? No. Is brushing your hair 100 strokes each night good for your hair? No.

We also found out about some budget-friendly haircare products that can be purchased at the drugstore. These include Garnier Fructis Leave-In Conditioning Cream and Neutrogena Triple Moisture Deep Recovery Hair Mask.

Redbook offers some surprising ways you might be taxing your tresses — along with easy fixes.  Outdoor elements (wind, cool temperatures) can be rough even for dry hair but when hair is wet, it’s actually more fragile and susceptible to breakage so beware.

Once you get your hair in great shape, you have to decide whether to wear it hair up or down. Marie Claire taps some beauty pros who share what’s absolutely essential to sport each look.

Pretty Tough Tip
Here’s our advice: If you’re a swimmer and chlorine tends to turn your hair green, try squirting lemon juice in your hair. Let it soak in for about two minutes then rinse out in the shower. No guarantees but it’s worked for us!

July 8, 200

We witnessed Michael Phelps earn a shot to overtake Mark Spitz and win eight gold medals at the Beijing Games. We watched Natalie Coughlin assert her dominance in the 100-meter backstroke and become the first woman in history to break 59 seconds. We saw Amanda Beard complete an unlikely comeback and make her fourth Olympic team and Katie Hoff qualify for five events plus a relay.

But the swimmer who quite possibly made the biggest splash at the eight-day trials, was 41 year old Dara Torres who won the 50- and 100-meter freestyles. Torres won the 50 in 24.25 seconds, bettering the American record she set the day before. Former Cal star Jessica Hardy finished second in 24.82 to add another event to her Olympic program, which includes the 100 breaststroke and 400 freestyle relay.

With her two year old daughter watching, Torres successfully completed her bid to make a fifth Olympic team. She nabbed her first gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. And she is committed to adding another Olympic medal to the nine she already owns. “I can’t sit here and say, ‘Oh, I’m just glad to be going,’” Torres said. “I want to win a medal.”

Olympic team members now head to Stanford on Monday for two weeks of training before departing to Singapore for another camp. We’ll be watching!

July 2, 2008

Expectations are high and for good reason. Intense training, combined with the controversial LZR swimsuit, are causing world records to fall on an almost daily basis. In many cases, a sixth place this week would have been worthy of a gold medal last time.

Natalie Coughlin blitzed to a world record in the 100-meter backstroke to highlight another breathless day of action on Tuesday. Coughlin stormed to the wall in a time of 58.97 seconds, trimming 0.06 off her own mark to become the first woman to dip under 59 seconds.  

A day earlier, Hayley McGregory knocked off Natalie Coughlin’s 4 1/2 -month-old mark in the 100 backstroke with a time of 59.15 seconds, only to have Coughlin take it right back in the next heat at 59.03.

Christine Magnuson, a Tennessee swimmer, booked a ticket to the Olympics with a win in the 100 butterfly. The victory was helped by Coughlin’s decision not to swim, even though she holds the American record. Jessica Hardy also claimed her first trip to the Olympics by winning the 100-meter breaststroke in 1:06.87 ahead of 2000 Sydney gold medalist Megan Jendrick.

Teenager Katie Hoff, who has claimed a world record in the 400 medley and two Olympic spots, looks poised to add to more events to her Beijing program after posting the top times in the 200-meter freestyle and 200-meter individual medley. Hoff is from the same North Baltimore club that launched Michael Phelps and is quickly becoming the sport’s other resident superstar.

With the trials as exciting as they are, will we see even more records fall at the Olympics?

1. Jessica, first off how did you get involved and when did you start swimming?
My mom would take my younger sister and I to my gated community’s swimming pool when I was around 7 years old, when I noticed a team would come in the afternoons and I immediately asked my mom if I “could go beat them.” I guess my competitive nature started young.

2. Do you have a meet-day or pre-race routine?
I usually like to grab a cup of coffee on the way to a meet, so that I can drink it while I stretch and listen to music. I generally do the same warm up before every meet, and do a lot of socializing before my race… so I guess that is as close to a routine as you can get.

3. What events will you swim, or hope to swim at the Olympics?
Hope to swim the 100 breaststroke and the 50 and 100 freestyle.

4. What event is your favorite to swim?
The 50 breaststroke! Too bad it’s not an Olympic event :(

5. During the final 25 meters can you hear the crowd or sense your position?
I can hear the crowd and sense my position pretty much during the entire race. I feed off of energy so I really like loud crowds; however, I have to remind myself to not pay attention to where others are and focus on myself.

6. You’re an attractive blonde from SoCal, competing in one of the Olympics’ marquee events. You could be the center of attention in August. – Are you ready that?
I’d love it! I am obviously focusing more on my performances at this point, but any attention would be an honor!

7. With that said, do you feel the extra pressure or think about the opportunities that could come along with winning Olympic medals?
No. I have a performance-based contract with some of my sponsors, where the better I do, or the more medals I win, the more I get paid….which could lead to anxiety. The way I handle it is to honestly block all of that out while I am training and competing. I think about what’s to come after I finish my races and only assess what it means then.

8. What do you enjoy doing when you’re not swimming?
I am very easy going. I really like am happy doing almost anything as long as it’s in the sun. I love the beach and spending time doing water activities. Also enjoy shopping and fine dining, what girl doesn’t! I’d be happy doing anything as long as I’m with my family or friends.

9. Ok, final question – If, hopefully when, you win a Gold Medal how will you celebrate?
I’ll worry about that after it hopefully happens! I don’t think I’ll have a problem celebrating, though!

Follow-Up: Jessica also swims for the University of California Berkeley, where she is a stand-out athlete. Every Olympics the USA seems to have a break out star in the pool, if Jessica can bring home gold, she surely will be one of the most popular athletes in any event. Most of the swimming events take place during the first week of the Games, so be sure to look for Jessica.

More at RizzoSports

The impact of Speedo’s new swimsuit is causing some serious waves in the sporting world. A recent article tells how this hi-tech swimsuit threatens to move the sport forward by seconds in the next few months.

Unbelievably, the LZR swimsuit, which uses technology developed by the rocket scientists at NASA, is the common denominator in all world record performances so far this year. This flurry of records has driven a lively debate, which seems to be polarizing former swimmers, administrators and coaches of elite athletes.

What is the big deal with the LZR suit?

According to websites and recent news articles, the suit appers to have three innovations:

• A tighter, corset-like midsection that is reported to reduce fatigue at the end of races.
• A new material that is water repellant and reduces drag by 5% compared to older, slower swmsuits.
• Seamless construction, consisting of special panels of the repellant material that further reduces drag.

Olympic swimmer Katie Hoff told the Today Show audience that when wearing the suit she “feels like a bullet speeding through the water.”  Natalie Coughin, Dara Torres and Katie Ziegler are also fans of the new LZR.

Officials from the International Swimming Federation (FINA, the sport’s governing body), want to speak with Speedo even though the company apparently met with FINA and adhered to all the regulations for swim-suit design. With the Olympics looming you can expect the terms ‘unfair advantage’ and ‘performance enhancing’ to show up on the agenda.

What do you think?

ATHENS, Ga, March 20, 2008

The Lady Bulldogs will have 17 student-athletes participating in the event, which will take place Thursday through Saturday at Ohio State’s McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion. Live results can be found at ohiostatebuckeyes.com. Prelims will be at 11 a.m. and finals will be at 7 p.m. each day.

“It’s been an amazing year,” Georgia head coach Jack Bauerle said. “This team doesn’t look as spectacular as teams in the past, but this team can come at you in waves. This team has been tough all year, and I expect us to fight and battle for every point at the NCAAs.”

The Lady Bulldogs are bringing a young squad to the national event. Of the 17 student-athletes making the trip, seven are freshmen and three are sophomores. Eight of the swimmers and divers will be competing at the NCAAs for the first time. Georgia also has three juniors and four seniors.

“We knew coming into the year that we had a talented group of freshmen,” Bauerle said. “But that¹s what they were ­ freshmen. As the year has gone on, they have grown up, toughened up and given us a tremendous boost.”

This will be Georgia¹s 26th consecutive appearance in the NCAAs. The Lady Bulldogs have finished in the top five each of the last 12 years, including first-place efforts in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005.

“We have lofty goals for the NCAAs,” senior co-captain Anna Miller said.  ‘We always believe we can win it. We always believe that we¹ve got a chance. This team has a lot of talent, and I think we can surprise some people. I can¹t wait to see us compete.”

Senior Elizabeth Hill was a member of the NCAA-winning 800-yard freestyle relay in 2005. Junior Jessica Cole earned an NCAA gold medal on the 2006 800-yard freestyle relay.

Source: Georgia

NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Champions

With the normal meet schedule flipped around to simulate the schedule for the upcoming Beijing Summer Olympics – prelims in the evening, finals in the morning – Coventry proved that records can go down before the sun.

Yesterday morning at the Mizzou Aquatics Center, Coventry smashed the 18-year-old world mark in the women’s 200-meter backstroke, finishing the same event in which she won gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics in 2 minutes, 6.39 seconds.  Coventry, who lives and trains in the United States, topped the world record of 2:06.62 set by Hungary’s Krisztina Egerszegi in August 1991.

That wasn’t the only long-standing record toppled during the Missouri Grand Prix’s first of three finals sessions. After coming within a second of breaking Janet Evans’ 20-year-old American record in the women’s 400 freestyle during Friday night’s preliminaries, Katie Hoff eclipsed the mark yesterday, finishing in 4:02.20.

Evans’ previous record of 4:03.85, set during the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, was the longest-standing U.S. swimming record. In fact, the record had stood longer than Hoff has been alive. Hoff, the youngest member of the American Olympic team at the 2004 Athens Games, turns 19 in June.

In the 200, Hoff defeated five-time Olympic medalist Natalie Coughlin for the second time in two days with a gold-medal winning time of 1:56.08.

But Natalie was breaking records too. She swam the 100-meter backstroke in 59.21 seconds Sunday, breaking her own women’s world record. Coughlin, who won five medals at the 2004 Olympics, set the mark during a preliminary race in the competition.

Hoff captured Sportswoman of the Year honors for the second time, having been previously honored in 2005. She earned a total of 11 medals in 2007, eight of which were gold. Included were gold medals in the 400-meter individual medley, 200-meter individual medley and 800-meter free relay team at the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia.

The women’s gymnastics team, comprised of Ivana Hong, Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, Samantha Peszek, Alicia Sacramone, Shayla Worley and reserve Bridget Sloan, captured gold at the World Championships. It marked the first time that the USA won the team and all-around titles at the same World Championships.

The USOC also selected track athlete Allyson Felix as the first-ever recipient of the Outstanding Performance of the Year Awards. Felix won the 200 meter individual gold medal and was a part of the 4 x 100 meters and 4 x 400 meters championship relay teams at the 2007 World Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Osaka, Japan.

Cal swimming coach Teri McKeever favors balance and body movement over traditional long distance training. And her non-traditional approach 

It’s a plan of action that probably wouldn’t occur to most high-level college swim coaches (most of whom happen to be men), and a reason why McKeever is considered an innovator in a sport that tends overwhelmingly toward stolid, tried’n-true yardage-based training. It’s also probably what makes her so successful.

McKeever’s accomplishments to date: First woman coach on the U.S. Olympic Swimming team. First woman to be named head coach of the national team at a major international meet. Eleven straight top-ten team finishes by Cal swimmers at the NCAA championships.

McKeever also is known as a coach who turns previously unnoticed swimmers into major talents, and talented-but-burned-out swimmers into Olympians and world champions.  Natalie Coughlin credits McKeever with resurrecting her swimming career and helping her to win five medals, including two golds, at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

McKeever believes awareness in the water is teachable, which is where dance classes help. Turns out if you’ve got better balance and body awareness on land, you can take it into the pool with you. What fun it would be to see some of her male counterparts adopt this training regimen.

Read full story at California Magazine

“For the longest time, I was at 22.0 and 22.1. That’s so exciting, to break it by a half-second,” said Coughlin, who won five medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics.