| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Erica Marie Sullivan | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |  United States | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | August 9, 2000 Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Freestyle | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Sandpipers of Nevada | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Erica Marie Sullivan (born August 9, 2000) is a retired American swimmer. She received a silver medal in the 1500-meter freestyle at the 2020 Summer Olympics after placing second and qualifying in the event at the 2020 US Olympic Swimming Trials. [1]
Sullivan's father, John, a former swimmer for the University of Wisconsin, died of esophageal cancer when she was 16. In the aftermath, she dealt with mental health issues. “I'm proud of the mental health barriers that I got through, with my dad dying in 2017 and really hitting a rock bottom in 2018 from the stress of losing a parent at age 16 and having to get over the anxiety, the panic attacks, the depression, the PTSD, all that,” she said during the Olympic Trials in Omaha. [2] [3]
Sullivan is lesbian and is currently dating Austin-based activist Izzy Richards. [4] Sullivan's mother, Maco, is Japanese. [5]
Sullivan has a YouTube channel she started on August 4, 2014, and where she has published swimming-related content. [6] Her first video, publicly published on December 14, 2014, was a vlog covering her team, the Sandpipers of Nevada, at the Junior National Swimming Championships in December 2014. [7]
Since 2020, Sullivan has produced an annual Twitter thread comparing swimming to films nominated for Academy Awards for the year. [8]
In August 2018, she represented the United States at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Tokyo, Japan. [9] She placed 5th in the timed-finals of the 800-meter freestyle swimming a time of 8:26.27, 9th in the timed-finals of the 1500-meter freestyle with a time of 16:16.07, and 14th in the heats of the 400-meter freestyle with a time of 4:14.68. [10]
| 2020 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | 1500 m freestyle | 15:41.41 |
Sullivan qualified to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics in the 1500-meter freestyle for the USA Olympic swimming team. [11] At the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, she won the silver medal in the 1500-meter freestyle with a time of 15:41.41, just 4.07 seconds behind gold medalist Katie Ledecky, on July 28, 2021 at the Tokyo Aquatics Center. Sarah Köhler of Germany took the bronze medal with a time of 15:42.91. It was the first occurrence of women competing in the 1500-meter freestyle at the Summer Olympic Games. [1]
Sullivan competed for the University of Texas at the 2022 NCAA DI Swimming and Diving Championships. She took third place in the Women's 500 yard freestyle in a 4:35.92 and second place in the Women's 1650 yard freestyle in a 15:45.94. [12] [13]
The first world record in the men's 1500 metres freestyle in a long course swimming pool was recognised by the International Swimming Federation (FINA) in 1908. In short course pools, the world's governing body recognizes world records since March 3, 1991.
Mireia Belmonte García is a Spanish Olympic, world, and European champion swimmer. She is the world record holder in the short course 200 metre butterfly and 400 metre individual medley. Formerly, she held the world record in the short course 400 metre freestyle, 800 metre freestyle, and 1500 metre freestyle. She was the first Spanish woman to win a gold medal in swimming at an Olympic Games and is widely considered to be the greatest Spanish swimmer of all time.
Allison Rodgers Schmitt is an American competition swimmer who specializes in freestyle events. She is a four-time Olympian and a ten-time Olympic medalist.
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Ryan Fitzgerald MurphyOLY is an American competitive swimmer specializing in backstroke. He is a five-time Olympic gold medalist and the former world-record holder in the men's 100-meter backstroke.
Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky is an American competitive swimmer. She has won nine Olympic gold medals and 21 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. With 14 medals and 9 gold medals, she is also the most decorated American woman, most decorated female swimmer, the woman with the most gold medals and fifth-most decorated athlete in Olympic history. She has won a record 16 individual gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships. Ledecky's 10 individual medals at the Olympics and 26 overall medals at the World Aquatics Championships are records in women's swimming. Ledecky is the world record holder in the women's 800- and 1500-meter freestyle, as well as the former world record holder in the women's 400-meter freestyle. She also holds the fastest-ever times in the women's 500-, 1000-, and 1650-yard freestyle events. She is widely regarded as the greatest female swimmer of all time and one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
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