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.
Shirley Frances Babashoff is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in multiple events. Babashoff set six world records and earned a total of nine Olympic medals in her career. She won a gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle relay in both the 1972 and 1976 Olympics, and she won the 1975 world championship in both the 200-meter and 400-meter freestyle. During her career, she set 37 national records and for some time held all national freestyle records from the 100-meter to 800-meter event.
Magdalena Johanna Maria "Marleen" Veldhuis is a retired swimmer from the Netherlands. She was world record holder in four events. Veldhuis won eight world championships gold medals and 20 European championships gold medals. In the Olympics, she won a bronze medal in London 2012 in the 50 m freestyle, as well as three relay medals: bronze in Athens 2004, gold in Beijing 2008, and silver in London 2012.
Roland Matthes was a German swimmer and the most successful backstroke swimmer of all time. Between April 1967 and August 1974 he won all backstroke competitions he entered. He won four European championships and three world championships in a row, and swam 19 world and 28 European records in various backstroke, butterfly and medley events. He was trained by Marlies Grohe.
Bruce MacFarlane Furniss is a former American amateur competition swimmer, Olympic double gold medalist, and ten-time world record-holder in four events. At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, he won the Men's 200-meter Freestyle and was a member of the winning U.S. team in the Men's 4×200-meter Freestyle Relay, both in world record time. Furniss broke ten world and nineteen American records, and won eleven Amateur Athletic Union and six NCAA titles.
Kim Marie Peyton, also known by her married name Kim McDonald, was an American swimmer and Olympic gold medalist at the 1976 Summer Olympics. She was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1989, three years after her death at age 29 from a brain tumor.
Ranomi Kromowidjojo is a retired Dutch swimmer of mixed Dutch-Javanese Surinamese origin who mainly specialises in sprint freestyle events. She is a triple Olympic champion, winning the gold medal in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay at the 2008 Olympics, and in the 50 m freestyle and 100 m freestyle at the 2012 Olympics. Kromowidjojo holds the world record in the 50 meter freestyle short course, and as part of the Dutch team she holds the world record in the 4×50 m freestyle relay. She formerly held world records in the 4 × 100 m and 4 × 200 m freestyle relays. She has won a total of 39 medals in FINA World Championship events.
Jennifer Jo Kemp is an American former competition swimmer, an Olympic champion in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, and a former world record-holder.
Emily Susan Silver is an American competitive swimmer, Olympic medalist, and swim coach. She was a member of the silver-medal-winning U.S. team of the 4×100 metre freestyle relay at the 2008 Summer Olympics. She competed alongside fellow American swimmers Natalie Coughlin, Lacey Nymeyer and Kara Lynn Joyce. Silver overcame a broken hand suffered in the U.S. Olympic Trials, returning after a few weeks to compete at the 2008 Olympic Games.
Wilfried Hartung is a retired German swimmer. Born in East Berlin, East Germany, he competed at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay in 1972. He is the divorced husband of two-time silver Olympic swimmer Gabriele Wetzko.
Judith "Jutta" Weber is a German former swimmer who competed in the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics, and won bronze medals in the 4 × 100 m freestyle and 4 × 100 m medley relay events in 1972. She repeated this achievement next year at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships. In 1974, she won a European silver medal in the 4 × 100 m medley.
Rosemarie Gabriel is a retired German swimmer. She competed at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics in five events in total and won a gold medal in the 4 × 100 m medley relay in 1976, swimming for the East German team in a preliminary round. Individually, she won a bronze medal in the 200 m butterfly in 1976.
Brian Brinkley is an English former competitive swimmer who represented Great Britain in the Olympic Games, FINA world championships and European championships, and England in the Commonwealth Games, during the 1970s. During his elite swimming career, he won thirteen medals in major international swimming championships.
Kathryn Jean Heddy, also known by her married name Kathy Drum, is an American former competition swimming world champion and four-time Pan American champion.
Barbara Ann Marshall is an American former swimmer for the University of North Carolina, and a 1972 Munich Olympic 200-meter and 4x100-meter freestyle relay competitor. Notably in late August 1974, in a dual meet against American rival East Germany in Concord, California, Marshall swam on an American 4x100 meter freestyle relay team that set a world record in the event.
Simone Ashley Manuel is an American professional swimmer specializing in freestyle events. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, she won two gold and two silver medals: gold in the 100-meter freestyle and the 4×100-meter medley, and silver in the 50-meter freestyle and the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. In winning the 100-meter freestyle, a tie with Penny Oleksiak of Canada, Manuel became the first Black American woman to win an individual Olympic gold in swimming and set an Olympic record and an American record. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she won a bronze medal as the anchor of the American 4×100-meter freestyle relay team.
Marrit Steenbergen is a Dutch competitive swimmer. She won gold medals in the 100 m and 200 m freestyle events at the 2022 European Championships held in Rome, Italy.
Freya Ann Alexandra Anderson is a British swimmer, known primarily for her achievements as a freestyle sprinter, especially as a relay swimmer for Great Britain. Anderson achieved nine relay gold medals at three editions of the European Championships, including 5 golds in a single meet at the 2020 European Championships in Budapest, as well as two bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games and a bronze at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships. In July 2021, she won gold as part of the British team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in mixed 4 × 100 metre medley relay, swimming the freestyle anchor leg in the heat.
Rebecca Smith is a Canadian swimmer. She represented Canada at the 2020 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal in the 4×100 metre freestyle relay, and is a multi-medallist at the World Aquatics Championships, World Swimming Championships, Commonwealth Games, and Pan Pacific Swimming Championships.
Kayla Noelle Sanchez is a Filipino-Canadian swimmer who represents the Philippines internationally since 2023. She has represented Canada through 2022, at the Olympic and World championship level, and is a two-time Olympic medalist.
