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 Golden Goggle Awards, presented by the USA Swimming Foundation, is an awards ceremony which recognizes and honors the accomplishments of swimmers who represented the United States, that is USA Swimming National Team members, over the last year. The awards were established in 2004 with the first awards ceremony held in November of the same year in New York City. There are eight main categories: Breakout Performer of the Year, Coach of the Year, Perseverance Award, Relay Performance of the Year, Male Race of the Year, Female Race of the Year, Male Athlete of the Year, and Female Athlete of the Year. Nominees in each category are announced in advance of the awards ceremony and recipients of each award are revealed at the ceremony itself. Winners for each award are determined by a selection panel and fan votes. The awards ceremony serves as a fundraiser for the foundation, with seats and tables available for purchase and proceeds going to the foundation and other humanitarian efforts such as aid relief for those affected by Hurricane Katrina. The dress code for attendees is black tie. Localities hosting the annual ceremony vary and include cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami.
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). When Phelps 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 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Phelps already tied the record of eight medals of any color at a single Games by winning six gold and two bronze medals. 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.
Freestyle is a category of swimming competition, defined by the rules of the International Swimming Federation (FINA), in which competitors are subject to 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 1500 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.
Thomas Allen Shields is an American competitive swimmer. He is a two-time Olympian and the current American record-holder in the short course 50-meter butterfly and 200-meter butterfly. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, he won a gold medal in the 4×100-meter medley relay, swimming the butterfly leg of the relay in the prelims. Later the same year, he became the first American to swim faster than 44 seconds in the 100-yard butterfly, setting a new American record of 43.84 seconds.
Davis Edward Tarwater is an American swimmer and Olympic gold medalist. He grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee and began competitive swimming at age seven. During high school, he set three state swimming records and led Webb School of Knoxville to the state title. In 2002, he was named High School Swimmer of the Year. Tarwater attended the University of Michigan, earning a bachelor's degree in political science, and St. Antony's College, Oxford earning a master's degree in Latin American Studies.
Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky is an American competitive swimmer. She has won seven Olympic gold medals and 19 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. Ledecky's six individual gold medals at the Olympics, 14 individual gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships, and 22 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 one of the greatest Olympians and the greatest female swimmer of all time.
Caeleb Remel DresselOLY is an American professional swimmer who specializes in freestyle, butterfly, and individual medley events. He swims representing the Cali Condors as part of the International Swimming League. He won a record seven gold medals at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, nine medals, six of which were gold, at the 2018 World Swimming Championships in Hangzhou, and eight medals, including six gold, at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju. Dressel is a seven-time Olympic gold medalist and holds world records in the 100 meter butterfly, 50 meter freestyle, and 100 meter individual medley.
Michael Charles Andrew is an American competitive swimmer and an Olympic gold medalist. He was the 2016 world champion in the 100 meter individual medley. At his first Olympic Games, the 2020 Summer Olympics, he won a gold medal and set a world record as part of the 4x100 meter medley relay, placed fourth in the 100 meter breaststroke, fourth in the 50 meter freestyle, and fifth in the 200 meter individual medley. Andrew's swims in 2021 at the 2020 Olympics made him the first swimmer to represent the United States at an Olympic Games in an individual breaststroke event as well as another individual event other than an individual medley in the then-125-year-history of swimming at the Summer Olympics. He has won 76 medals at Swimming World Cup circuits.
Blake John Pieroni is a three-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming. He is a two time Olympian and gold medalist in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay at both the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2020 Summer Olympics. On the relay in 2016, he swam in the prelims of the race, on the 2020 Olympics 4×100-meter freestyle relay he swam in both the prelims and the final. He also won a gold medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay at the 2020 Olympic Games, swimming the freestyle leg of the relay in the prelims.
Trenton Jeffrey Julian is an American competitive swimmer. He is a world record holder in the short course 4×200 meter freestyle relay and 4×100 meter medley relay. He won a gold medal in the 4×200 meter freestyle relay at the 2019 World University Games. He followed this win up with gold medals in the 4×200 meter freestyle relay at the 2021 World Short Course Championships, 2022 World Aquatic Championships, and 2022 World Short Course Championships. In the 4×100 meter medley relay, he won a world title and gold medal at the 2022 World Short Course Championships, swimming butterfly on each the prelims and finals relay.
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