35-446: Janet Beth Evans OLY (born August 28, 1971) is an American former competition swimmer who swam from 1989-1992 for Stanford University and specialized in distance freestyle events. Evans was a world champion and world record-holder, and won a total of four gold medals in the 400 and 800-meter freestyle events at the 1988 and the 1992 Olympics. In the late 1980's Evans was the first woman to hold three world records simultaneously in
70-459: A candidate city. Los Angeles was ultimately awarded the 2028 Summer Olympics at the 131st IOC Session in Lima , Peru , on September 13, 2017. As of 2020, Evans works with the organizing committee for the 2028 Summer Olympics in the executive leadership role of chief athlete officer. As of August 2019, Evans works as chief athlete officer for the 2028 Summer Olympics organizing committee. Evans
105-554: A new world record in the 400-meter freestyle event. This record stood for 18 years until France's Laure Manaudou broke it in May 2006. Evans held the 1,500-meter freestyle record, set in March 1988, through June 2007, when it was broken by American Kate Ziegler with her time of 15:42.54. Evans held the world record in the 800-meter freestyle, 8:16:22, that she set in August 1989, until it
140-420: A period when international competition was interrupted by world war. Following her 1988 Olympics performance, Evans continued to dominate the world's long-distance swimming competitions, remainging undefeated in all of the 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle events for over five years. Evans became the first woman to capture back-to-back Olympic and world championship titles in any one swimming event by winning
175-401: A significant improvement, "there's always that question." American sportswriters sympathetic to Smith took this comment to mean that Evans was accusing Smith of steroid use as well, and they attacked Evans as being a sore loser. Evans later insisted that she meant no such accusation and that her remarks were taken out of context. In 1998, Smith received a four-year suspension for tampering with
210-676: A silver medal at the European Championship's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay. She set her eyes on an acting career and in 1939 she was cast in the Belgian movie Van het een komt het ander ("One Thing Leads to Another"). However the outbreak of the Second World War stopped the production. The German invasion of the Netherlands piled on the misery: Den Ouden was engaged, but her fiancé's family fled to America just before
245-569: A urine sample. In June 2011, it was reported that Evans was in the process of a comeback and had been training for six months with the goal of competing at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials . At the 2012 Olympic Trials, at the age of 40, she finished 80th out of 113 swimmers in the 400-meter freestyle and 53rd out of 65 swimmers in the 800-meter freestyle. At the end of Evans's swimming career, she held seven world records, five Olympic medals (including four gold medals), and 45 American national titles – third only to Tracy Caulkins and Michael Phelps . She
280-633: Is post-nominal letters granted by the World Olympians Association (WOA) to registered athletes who have participated in the Olympic Games . The initiative was launched in 2017, and in 2022, post-nominal title PLY was introduced for Paralympic participants. In November 2017 at the 8th International Olympic Committee (IOC) International Athletes' Forum, the World Olympians Association, with
315-482: Is like becoming a PhD. It takes 10 years. You learn about perseverance, you learn about equity, fair play. You are an example of this for society at large." According to WOA's website, an OLY should bear responsibilities including "[working] to spread the spirit of Olympism" and "[representing] Olympians and the Olympic Movement in a positive and supportive manner at all times". Two and a half years after
350-587: The 100-year history of the competition. Evans ended her swimming career, for all practical purposes, at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. She did not win any medals, but she did add one more highlight to her life. She was given the honour of carrying the Olympic torch in the opening ceremony, handing it to the American boxing legend Muhammad Ali who lit the Olympic cauldron. On July 27, 1996, she
385-407: The 1988 and 1992 Olympic gold medals and the 1991 and 1994 world championships in the 800-meter freestyle race. At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, she won a silver in the 400-meter freestyle with a time of 4:07.37, taking second, and finished about .2 seconds behind German swimmer Dagmar Hase , whom she led for almost the entire competition but was narrowly caught at the end. Evans had held the record in
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#1732776216326420-648: The 1992 Olympics, where Evans excelled. After enrolling for the Spring semester in 1993, Evans graduated from the University of Southern California with a bachelor's degree in communications in 1994, where Mark Schubert had moved and continued his coaching career. At USC, Evans trained under Schubert, worked out with the USC team and the Trojan Swim Club, and served as a student Assistant Coach for two seasons for
455-462: The 400 since the 1988 Olympics, but her times in the event had been continually slowing. At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, she also won a gold in the 800-meter freestyle in 8:25.52, another signature distance event, finishing nearly 5 seconds ahead of Australia's Haley Lewis. Evans won the 400-meter and 800-meter freestyle events at the U.S. National Championships 12 times each, the largest number of national titles in one event by an American swimmer in
490-513: The 400, 800, and 1500-meter freestyle and was the first American woman to win four individual Olympic gold medals in swimming. Born in Fullerton, California , Evans grew up in neighboring Placentia , where she started swimming competitively by the age of 5. By the age of 11, she was setting national age group records in distance events. She swam as a teenager for Fullerton Aquatics Sports Team (FAST Swimming) where her most influential coach in
525-702: The 500 free and 1650 free events in both 1990 and 1991, and in 1990 also captured a 400 IM title. She also took two national titles in the 800 free relay during those seasons. When the NCAA placed weekly hours limits on athletic training time, she quit the Stanford swim team to focus full time on training. She began training at the University of Texas at Austin the Texas Aquatic Club around 1992 under Coach Mark Schubert who helped prepare her for 1992 Olympic competition. Schubert served as Head women's coach in
560-527: The Dutch national record on that distance by 1.4 seconds with a time of 1:10.4. [1] A year later, Den Ouden came in the international limelight when she participated at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and won two of the five contestable silver medals in swimming. In the series, she also broke the Olympic record on the 100 m. These accomplishments attracted wide attention since as a 14-year old she
595-570: The USC Women's swim team. She could not compete for USC, however, because she had accepted commercial endorsements in Spring, 1991 after her Sophomore season at Stanford. At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, she won three individual gold medals in the 400 and 800-meter freestyle and the 400-meter Individual Medley. At the games, she earned the nickname "Miss Perpetual Motion" due to her unique swimming style. In these Olympics, Evans set
630-749: The Year by Swimming World Magazine in 1987, 1989, and 1990. In 1988, as a junior in high school, she was recognized as a "Rising Star" by the Los Angeles Times . Evans was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in 2001. In 1995, Evans was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. Evans married Bill Willson in Long Beach in 2004, with whom she has two children. OLY OLY ( / ˌ oʊ ɛ l ˈ w aɪ / OH -el- WY )
665-594: The Year. Evans attended Stanford University , where she swam for the Stanford Cardinal swimming and diving team from 1989 to 1991 under Stanford's Hall of Fame Women's Head Coach Richard Quick . At Stanford, she received the Honda Sports Award for Swimming and Diving, recognizing her as the outstanding college female swimmer of the year in 1988–89. At Stanford, Evans was an All-American eight times, dominating distance events. She captured all
700-589: The equivalent of 8 miles. Slight of build and short of stature, she more than once found herself competing and winning against bigger and stronger athletes, some of whom were subsequently found to have been using performance-enhancing drugs. Janet Evans was the 1989 recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States. She was named the Female World Swimmer of
735-448: The finals, as only the top eight finishers advance to the next level. In the final swim of her career, Evans finished in sixth place in the 800-meter freestyle. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, American swimming officials criticized Ireland's Michelle Smith about her unexpected gold medals, suggesting that she might have been using performance-enhancing drugs. When asked about the accusations, Evans said that when anyone like Smith showed such
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#1732776216326770-619: The games and who uphold the values and practices of the Olympic Charter and the World Olympians Association Code of Conduct. IOC president and gold-medalist fencer Thomas Bach was the first athlete to be granted use of the post-nominal initials. Within five days, more than 1,000 Olympians had registered. WOA President Joël Bouzou told Around the Rings : "It's time to recognize becoming an Olympian
805-521: The initiative began, over 14,000 Olympians had been granted the use of the OLY post-nominal letters and "growing [the] global OLY community" remained a priority of the World Olympians Association. In 2022, the post-nominal letters PLY were introduced for athletes who have participated in the Paralympic Games . Willy den Ouden Willemijntje den Ouden (1 January 1918 – 6 December 1997)
840-874: The invasion, and her parental house was destroyed on May 14, 1940 in the bombing of Rotterdam . Most if not all of her medals and prizes were lost in the burning rubble. Den Ouden herself fled to England, where in October 1943 she married Staffan Broms, son of a Swedish diplomat stationed in London. The couple moved to Saltsjöbaden in Sweden after the wedding, but the marriage didn't last and in 1946 Den Ouden returned to Rotterdam. She married twice more; in November 1953 to Wicher Hooite Jager (divorce in 1957) and in October 1958 to Jan Edwin Schupper. Her last marriage only lasted half
875-456: The mid-1980's was Bud McAllister. In 1987, at age 15, Evans broke the world records in the 400-meter , 800-meter , and 1,500-meter freestyle distances. She graduated from El Dorado High School , and when not competing or representing FAST, she swam meets and trained with El Dorado High, where she was coached by Tom Milich, a 1987 California Swimming Coach of the Year, and an American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) Distinguished Coach of
910-484: The support of the IOC Athletes' Commission , announced the OLY post-nominal letters initiative. The initiative allows Olympians to use the OLY lettering on any official documentation after their name. In addition to the letters, athletes will receive a World Olympians Association certificate celebrating their achievements when they apply for the post-nominals. The initiative is open to all athletes who have competed at
945-689: Was a competitive swimmer from the Netherlands , who held the 100-meter freestyle world record for nearly 23 years, from 1933 to 1956. Den Ouden was a daughter of Willemijntje Kuipers and Antonius Victor Jozephus den Ouden, a café owner in Rotterdam , a town that was then the swimming center of the Netherlands. in 1931, at the age of 13, she became the Rotterdamsche Dames Zwemclub ("Rotterdam's Ladies Swimming Club") champion in her favorite discipline, 100m freestyle and broke
980-404: Was also the anchor swimmer for the Dutch relay teams that broke the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay record in 1934 and in 1936. On February 4, 1934, she became the first woman to swim 100 yards in under a minute (59.8 seconds). In 1935 she held all 10 world-records freestyle swimming for 500 m and shorter simultaneously. She retired from competitive swimming in 1938, at the age of 20, after obtaining
1015-460: Was also the youngest Olympic participant. Four years later at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin , she was widely favored to win the same race, but came in fourth place in the final. She did win the gold medal in the women's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay with her compatriots Tini Wagner , Rie Mastenbroek and Jopie Selbach . However, the diminutive Den Ouden -she reached 1.55 m (5.1 ft) -
1050-440: Was broken by Rebecca Adlington of Britain in August 2008. Adlington set the new record with her time of 8:14.10 in winning the race at the 2008 Summer Olympics . Evans's 800-meter record was one of the longest-standing ones ever in swimming, and it went unbroken through four Olympic Games (1992–2004). Only the 100-meter freestyle swimming record set by the Dutch swimmer Willy den Ouden stood longer—from 1936 through 1956, during
1085-435: Was broken twice within ten days by Dawn Fraser and Cocky Gastelaars , respectively. Thus, she held the world record for the top event in swimming for an unequalled 22 years and 8 months. Den Ouden further broke the world records on the 200 m freestyle (three times between 1933 and 1936), the 400 m freestyle (in 1934), and the now defunct distances of 100 yd, 150 yd, 220 yd, 300 yd, 400 yd, 300 m, and 500 m freestyle. She
Janet Evans - Misplaced Pages Continue
1120-833: Was far more successful between these two Olympic games. At the 1934 European Championships in Magdeburg she won all three contests she participated in, though her shared win at the 400 m race with Rie Mastenbroek led only to a silver medal when she refused to swim the race again to decide a winner. On July 9, 1933 in Antwerp , she broke Helene Madison 's two-year-old world record on the 100 m freestyle , setting it at 1:06.0. She would improve on this three times, swimming 1:04.8 in April 1934 and finally reaching 1:04.6 on 27 February 1936 in Amsterdam . This record would last until 1956 when it
1155-406: Was in a building being interviewed by a German newsman when a bomb exploded nearby. The explosion very lightly shook the building and startled Evans. The incident traumatized her so much that she had a panic attack the next day while waiting for a train in an Atlanta subway station. In 1996 Olympic heats, Evans finished ninth in the preliminaries of the 400-meter freestyle. She did not qualify for
1190-417: Was known for her unorthodox "windmill" stroke and her cardio-respiratory reserves. She had a higher stroke count than many distance swimmers, taking 55 strokes per 50 meters, when other distance swimmers took closer to 40. Her endurance was at least partly a product of her training. In July 1986, at the height of her training, she was reputed to have often completed as much as 13,000 meters in a day of workouts,
1225-423: Was the first American woman to win four individual Olympic gold medals in swimming. In 2010, Evans returned to competitive swimming as a United States Masters swimmer . On November 3, 2016, Evans was chosen to serve as co-Grand Marshal of the 2017 Rose Parade . Evans served as Vice Chair and Athletes director for the Los Angeles 2024 Olympic bid committee and traveled with the team to promote Los Angeles as
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