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.
Michelle Smith de Bruin is an Irish lawyer and retired Olympic swimmer. She won three gold medals at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, for the 400 m individual medley, 400 m freestyle and 200 m individual medley, and also won the bronze medal for the 200 m butterfly event. Smith's rise to dominance in the 1995 European Championships, followed by her wins in Atlanta at a relatively advanced age for swimmers, were marked by allegations of doping, which were never proven. Smith was later banned for four years by FINA, the international swimming federation, for manipulation of an anti-doping sample by deliberate contamination with alcohol, a decision upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport when Smith appealed. Already superannuated in swimming terms, Smith never returned to competitive swimming and later worked as a barrister, practising under her married name of Michelle de Bruin.
Krisztina Egerszegi is a Hungarian former world record holding swimmer and one of the greatest Hungarian Olympic champions of the modern era. She is a three-time Olympian and five-time Olympic champion; and one of four individuals to have ever won the same swimming event at three consecutive Summer Olympics. She is the first female swimmer to win five individual Olympic gold medals.
Kirsty Leigh Coventry Seward is a Zimbabwean swimmer and politician currently serving as the Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation in the Cabinet of Zimbabwe since September 2018. A former Olympic swimmer and world record holder, she is the most decorated Olympian from Africa. She is a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and was elected the Chairperson of the IOC Athletes' Commission, the body that represents all Olympic athletes worldwide in early 2018.
Claudia María Poll Ahrens is a Costa Rican-Nicaraguan former swimmer who competed in the 200 m to 800 m freestyle events. She is Costa Rica's only Olympic gold-medalist, having won the country's first Olympic gold medals at the 1996 Olympics in the 200 meter freestyle. Claudia also competed at the 2000 Olympics, where she won two bronze medals. She is a multiple national record holder in the freestyle events.
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.
Kornelia Ender is a former East German swimmer who at the 1976 Summer Olympics became the first woman swimmer to win four gold medals at a single Olympic Games, all in world record times. It was later proven that the East German team doctors had systematically administered steroids to their athletes. As she had exhibited symptoms of steroid use in 1976, strong suspicion was cast on the validity of Ender's accomplishments.
Petra Schneider is a German retired medley and freestyle swimmer. She actively competed in the 1970s and 1980s.
Ute Geweniger is a former breaststroke and medley swimmer who was a leading member of the East German swimming team in the 1980s. She won two Olympic gold medals, in the 100 m breaststroke and 4×100 m medley relay at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, and set seven individual and two relay world records. She was named by Swimming World Magazine as World Swimmer of the Year in 1983 and as the European Swimmer of the Year in 1981 and 1983.
Silke Hörner is a German former breaststroke swimmer, a leading member of the 1980s East German swimming team. She won two Olympic gold medals, in the 200 m breaststroke and 4×100 m medley relay at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, and set four individual world records. She was named by Swimming World Magazine as European Swimmer of the Year in 1985 and 1987, but her achievements are regarded with suspicion due to the state-run systematic doping program run by East Germany. In 1991, former East German swimming coach Michael Regner claimed that in the 1980s he had been instructed to distribute anabolic steroids to team swimmers, including Hörner.
Nancy Ellen Garapick is a former Canadian competition swimmer, Olympic medallist, and former world record-holder. She won two bronze medals in the 100-metre backstroke and 200-metre backstroke at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal at the age of 14, behind two East German athletes, Ulrike Richter and Birgit Treiber, who later were confirmed to be longstanding participants of the East German doping scandal of the 1970s."She set a new Olympic record for the 100-metre backstroke during heats.
Cornelia Sirch is a former East German backstroke swimmer. She competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics in three events and won two bronze medals in the 100 m and 200 m backstroke and a gold medal in the 4 × 100 m medley relay, in which she swam in a preliminary round. In 1982 she was named Swimming World's European Swimmer of the Year, after winning 200 m backstroke at the World Championships in Guayaguil in a world record time of 2:09.91, becoming the first woman to dip under 2 minutes 10 seconds.
Sylvia Úrsula Poll Ahrens is an Olympic medalist and a national record holding swimmer from Costa Rica. At the 1988 Olympics, she won Costa Rica's first Olympic medal, when she garnered the silver in the women's 200 free. As of 2009, she and her younger sister Claudia are Costa Rica's only Olympic medalists. Sylvia also swam for Costa Rica at the 1992 Summer Olympics.
Barbara Krause is a former freestyle swimmer from East Germany. She was a three-time Olympic gold medalist and eight-time world record holder. At the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Krause won gold medals in the 100 m and 200 m freestyle and in the 4×100 m freestyle relay.
The government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) conducted a decades-long program of coercive administration and distribution of performance-enhancing drugs, initially testosterone, later mainly anabolic drugs, to its elite athletes. The aim of the program, which began in the 1960s, was to bolster East Germany's state image and prestige by winning medals in international competition such as the Olympic Games. The system was extremely formalised and heavily based on secrecy. Scholars and athletes have noted the pervasiveness of operations, the secrecy surrounding them, and the extent of abuse that athletes suffered because of them. While doping brought East Germany impressive results in sporting events, it was often devastating to the health of the athletes involved.
Birgit Meineke is a retired East German swimmer. She was the fastest female swimmer in the 100 m freestyle between 1980 and 1984.
Ye Shiwen is a Chinese swimmer. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she won gold medals in the 400 metres and 200 metres individual medley, breaking the world record in the 400 m event and the Olympic record in the 200 m event.
Karen König is a retired German freestyle swimmer who won two gold medals at the 1985 European Aquatics Championships as part of the East Germany relay teams. She missed the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles that were boycotted by East Germany, and instead competed at the Friendship Games, where she won a gold medal in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, setting a new world record. She was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold in East Germany.
Lutz Wanja is a retired German backstroke swimmer who won a bronze medal at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships. He also won three medals at LEN European Aquatics Championships in 1974 and 1977. He competed at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics in the 100 m and 200 m backstroke with the best achievement of fifth place in the 100 m backstroke in 1976.
Daria Konstantinovna Ustinova is a Russian backstroke swimmer. She is a former Junior World record holder in women's 200 m backstroke.
