Natalie Anne Coughlin (born August 23, 1982 in
Vallejo, California) is a American swimmer and
represented the United States at the 2004 Olympics
in Athens, Greece. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, she
won two gold medals, two silver medals, and a
bronze. She is known for her dominance in a short
course pool and unmatched underwater kicking
ability. She currently holds American and US Open
records in eight different events in a short course
yards pool.
She is originally from Concord, California and is of
Filipino and Irish heritage.
Prior to journeying to Athens, she was a
student-athlete at Carondelet High School in Concord
CA, Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill,
California, then later at the University of
California, Berkeley, where she earned a BA in
psychology in 2005. She had won three National
Collegiate Athletic Association Swimmer of the Year
honors in her first three years at the university.
Coughlin won the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in
the women's 100 meter backstroke event and was a
member of the silver medal women's 4 x 100 meter
freestyle relay with Kara Lynn Joyce, Amanda Weir,
and Jenny Thompson. She also broke a world record
and won gold as a member of the 4 x 200 meter
freestyle relay. Her lead-off split on the relay
would have won gold in the individual 200 meter
freestyle event.
Coughlin worked as an in-studio host for MSNBC
during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.
