Kristin Otto is a former German swimmer, becoming Olympic, World and European champion, multiple times. She is most famous for being the first woman to win six gold medals at a single Olympic Games, doing so at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. In long course, she held the world records in the 100 meter and 200 meter freestyle events. Otto was also the first woman to swim the short course 100 meter backstroke in under a minute, doing so at an international short course meet at Indiana University in 1983.
Laure Manaudou is a retired French Olympic, world and European champion swimmer. She has held the world record in freestyle events between 200 and 1500 meter. She is the older sister of Florent Manaudou who is also an Olympic gold medalist swimmer.
Federica Pellegrini is an Italian retired swimmer. A native of Mirano, in the province of Venice, she won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. At the 2009 World Championships in Rome, Pellegrini became the first woman ever to break the 4-minute barrier in the 400 m freestyle with a time of 3:59.15. She also held the women's 200 meters freestyle world record.
West Germany competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, United States. West Germany had joined the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics four years previously. 390 competitors, 267 men and 123 women, took part in 194 events in 25 sports.
Dara Grace Torres is an American former competitive swimmer, who is a 12-time Olympic medalist and former world record-holder in three events. Torres is the first swimmer to represent the United States in five Olympic Games, and at age 41, the oldest swimmer to earn a place on the U.S. Olympic team. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she competed in the 50-meter freestyle, 4×100-meter medley relay, and 4×100-meter freestyle relay, and won silver medals in all three events.
Anders Holmertz is a Swedish retired swimmer who was a leader in freestyle races in the 1980s and at the beginning of the 1990s, though often missing personal success. He also settled a record in the 400 m freestyle. He is the brother of another Swedish swimmer, Mikael Holmertz.
Athletes from East Germany competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 267 competitors, 154 men and 113 women, took part in 139 events in 17 sports.
Athletes from East Germany competed at the Olympic Games for the last time as an independent nation at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. Following German reunification in 1990, a single German team would compete in the 1992 Summer Olympics. 259 competitors, 157 men and 102 women, took part in 157 events in 16 sports. The team was officially announced on 3 September 1988.
Athletes from East Germany and West Germany competed together as the United Team of Germany for the last time at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. 337 competitors, 275 men and 62 women, took part in 159 events in 19 sports.
Frederike Johanna Maria "Femke" Heemskerk is a former Dutch competitive swimmer who mainly specializes in freestyle, but also has a strong backstroke and medley.
Amaury Raymond Leveaux is a French swimmer from Delle, Territoire de Belfort. Leveaux is a former world record holder in the 100 m freestyle, the 50 m freestyle, and the 50 m butterfly. He also formerly held the national record in the 200 m freestyle.
Danila Sergeevich Izotov is a Russian swimmer, a member of the Russian National team since 2008, and a multiple medalist at the Olympic Games and World Championships, as well as a European champion. He is coached by his father, Sergey Alexandrovich Izotov. He is the nephew of soviet swimmer Elvira Vasilkova.
Fanny Fischer is a German canoe sprinter who has been competing since 1996 and on the senior circuit since 2006. She won a gold in the women's K-4 500 m event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and finished fourth in the K-2 500 m event at those same games.
Frank Fischer is an East German sprint canoer who competed from 1981 to 1986. He won nine medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships with four golds, three silvers, and two bronzes.
Michael Fred Phelps II is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold medals (23), Olympic gold medals in individual events (13), and Olympic medals in individual events (16). At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Phelps tied the record of eight medals of any color at a single Games, held by gymnast Alexander Dityatin, by winning six gold and two bronze medals. Four years later, when he won eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, he broke fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven first-place finishes at any single Olympic Games. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Phelps won four gold and two silver medals, and at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he won five gold medals and one silver. This made him the most successful athlete of the Games for the fourth Olympics in a row.
Camille Muffat was a French swimmer and three-time Olympic medalist. Swimming for the Olympic Nice Natation club, she specialised in the individual medley and the free style events. Her career ran from 2005 to 2014.
Freestyle is a category of swimming competition, defined by the rules of World Aquatics, in which competitors are subject to only a few limited restrictions on their swimming stroke. Freestyle races are the most common of all swimming competitions, with distances beginning with 50 meters and reaching 1,500 meters, also known as the mile. The term 'freestyle stroke' is sometimes used as a synonym for 'front crawl', as front crawl is the fastest surface swimming stroke. It is now the most common stroke used in freestyle competitions.
Birgit Treiber is a former swimmer from the German Democratic Republic. She won one gold and two silver medals in the 1976 Summer Olympics and a bronze medal in the 1980 Summer Olympics. It was later proven she was extensively involved in an illegal doping program that greatly improved her swimming abilities.
Birgit Meineke is a retired East German swimmer. She was the fastest female swimmer in the 100 m freestyle between 1980 and 1984.
Birgit Koschischek is an Austrian swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle and butterfly events. She is a two-time Olympian, a four-time Austrian long and short course record holder, and a member of Schwechat Swimming Club in Schwechat, under her personal coach Adam Thoroczkay.
