Janet Beth Evans is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in distance freestyle events. Evans was a world champion and world record-holder, and won a total of four gold medals at the 1988 and the 1992 Olympics.
Deborah Elizabeth Meyer, also known by her married name Deborah Weber, is an American former competition swimmer, a three-time Olympic champion, and a former world record-holder in four events. Meyer won the 200-, 400-, and 800-meter freestyle swimming races in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. While she was still a 16-year-old student at Rio Americano High School in Sacramento, California, she became the first swimmer to win three individual gold medals in one Olympics, winning the 200-, 400-, and 800-meter freestyle swimming races. Katie Ledecky is the only other female swimmer to have done the same, in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.
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 daughter of a French father and a Dutch mother, and she is the older sister of Florent Manaudou who is also an Olympic gold medalist swimmer.
Novella Calligaris is a retired Italian swimmer, and the first Italian to win an Olympic medal in swimming. Her elder brother Mauro Calligaris was also an Olympic swimmer.
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. She is a multiple national record holder in the freestyle events.
Maritza Correia, also known by her married name Maritza McClendon, is a former Olympic swimmer from Puerto Rico who swam representing the United States. When she qualified for the U.S. Olympic team in 2004, she became the first Puerto Rican of African descent to be a member of the U.S. Olympic swimming team. She was the first female African-American swimmer for the United States to win an Olympic medal. She also became the first black American swimmer to set an American and world swimming record.
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.
The women's 400 metre freestyle event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 10–11 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China. The winning margin was 0.07 seconds which as of 2023 is the narrowest winning margin for this event in the Olympics.
Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky is an American competitive swimmer. She has won seven Olympic gold medals and 21 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. She has won a world record 16 individual gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships. Ledecky's six individual gold 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.
Dorothea Brandt is a German swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle and breaststroke events. She is a multiple-time German champion, a fourteen-time medalist at the European Short Course Swimming Championships, and a semi-finalist in the 50 m freestyle at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Brandt currently holds the short-course German record time of 23.74 seconds in the same discipline.
Ryu Yoon-ji is a South Korean former swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle events. She won two bronze medals, as a member of the South Korean swimming team, in freestyle and medley relays, at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, and at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.
Sarah Paton is an Australian former swimmer who specialized in long-distance freestyle events. She is the sister of swimmer Siobhan Paton, who won six gold medals at the 2000 Summer Paralympics, and holds 13 world records in S14 category. Paton is also a member of Telopea Swim Club, and is coached and trained by Mark Skimming.
Shim Min-ji is a South Korean former swimmer, who specialized in freestyle and backstroke events. She is a two-time Olympian and a three-time relay medalist at the Asian Games (2002).
Khadija Ciss is a Senegalese former swimmer, who specialized in long-distance freestyle events. She won a bronze medal in the 200 m freestyle at the 2003 All-Africa Games in Abuja, Nigeria (2:09.00).
Ivanka Moralieva is a Bulgarian former swimmer, who specialized in long-distance freestyle events and open water marathon. Since 2001, she holds a Bulgarian record in the 1500 m freestyle from the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan (16:55.53). She also won a bronze medal in the 25 km, as an open water swimmer, at the 2004 European Aquatics Championships in Madrid, Spain (4:41:21.2).
Kwon You-ri is a South Korean swimmer, who specialized in long-distance freestyle and butterfly events. She is a fourth-place finalist in the 200 m butterfly at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.
Heather Claire Roffey is a Caymanian former swimmer, who specialized in long-distance freestyle and butterfly events. She became one of the first swimmers, and the first female, in history to represent the Cayman Islands in swimming at the Summer Olympics at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, along with Shaune Fraser and Andrew Mackay.
The swimming events of the 15th FINA World Aquatics Championships were held July 28 – August 4, 2013, in Barcelona, Spain. The competition was held in a long course pool inside the Palau Sant Jordi. It featured 40 LCM events, split evenly between males and females. Swimming was one of the five aquatic disciplines at the championships.
Summer McIntosh is a Canadian competitive swimmer. A four-time World Aquatics champion and two-time Commonwealth Games gold medalist, she is the current world record holder in the women's 400 metre individual medley.
Lani Pallister is an Australian competitive swimmer. She is a world record holder in two sports, with a world record in swimming, the short course 4×200-metre freestyle relay, and world records in life saving for the youth age group in the 100-metre rescue medley and 200-metre super lifesaver. She holds the Oceanian, Commonwealth, and Australian records in the short course 1500-metre freestyle and the Australian record in the short course 800-metre freestyle. She is the first female World Short Course champion in the 1500-metre freestyle, winning the inaugural event for women at the 2022 edition. Over the course of the 2022 World Short Course Championships, she won the gold medal in each of the four events she contested.
