Amy Van Dyken

Amy Van Dyken

Amy Van Dyken in 2017
Personal information
Full name	Amy Deloris Van Dyken-Rouen
National team	United States
Born	(1973-02-15) February 15, 1973 (age 44) Denver, Colorado
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight	163 lb (74 kg)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Butterfly, freestyle
College team	University of Arizona Colorado State University
Coach	Bill Boomer
Medal record Women's swimming Representing the United States Olympic Games 1996 Atlanta 50 m freestyle 1996 Atlanta 100 m butterfly 1996 Atlanta 4×100 m freestyle 1996 Atlanta 4×100 m medley 2000 Sydney 4×100 m freestyle 2000 Sydney 4×100 m medley World Championships (LC) 1998 Perth 50 m freestyle 1998 Perth 4×100 m freestyle 1998 Perth 4×100 m medley 1994 Rome 4×100 m medley 1994 Rome 4×100 m freestyle 1994 Rome 50 m freestyle Pan Pacific Championships 1995 Atlanta 50 m freestyle 1995 Atlanta 4×100 m freestyle 1995 Atlanta 100 m freestyle 1995 Atlanta 4×100 m medley Pan American Games 1995 Mar del Plata 100 m butterfly 1995 Mar del Plata 4×100 m freestyle 1995 Mar del Plata 4×100 m medley 1995 Mar del Plata 100 m freestyle

Amy Deloris Van Dyken (born February 15, 1973) is an American former competitive swimmer, Olympic champion, former world record-holder, and national radio sports talk show co-host. She has won six Olympic gold medals in her career, four of which she won at the 1996 Summer Olympics, making her the first American woman to accomplish such a feat and the most successful athlete at the 1996 Summer Olympics. She won gold in the 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter butterfly, 4×100-meter freestyle relay, and 4×100-meter medley relay.

Van Dyken suffered from severe asthma throughout her childhood and into adulthood. She began swimming on the advice of a doctor as a way to strengthen her lungs to cope with her condition and prevent future asthma attacks.

She was named Swimming World's American Swimmer of the Year in 1995 and 1996.

On June 6, 2014, Van Dyken was injured in a severe ATV accident that severed her spinal cord, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down.

At the 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials, she placed 4th in the 50-meter freestyle, just missing the Olympic team. After high school, Van Dyken attended the University of Arizona for two years before transferring to Colorado State University, where she broke her first (of many more to come) United States record with a time of 21.77 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle at the NCAA championships in 1994. She also placed second in the 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard freestyle to Olympian Jenny Thompson. In 1994 she was named the NCAA Female Swimmer of the Year. After college, she moved to the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to train full-time for the 1996 Olympics.

At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, Van Dyken became the first American female athlete in to win 4 gold medals in a single Olympic games. Her success in swimming won her a wide variety of awards and accolades, including: the ESPN Awards (ESPY) Female Athlete of the Year award; Swimming World magazine's female Swimmer of the Year award; induction into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame; induction into the US Olympic Hall of Fame; named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year, USOC Sports Woman of the Year, the Women's Sports Foundation Sports Woman of the Year and USA Swimming Swimmer of the Year. She was also featured as one of Glamour magazine's Top 10 Women of the Year, named one of 25 most influential females in sport by Women's Sports and Fitness magazine and received the ARETE Courage in Sports award. She has graced the cover of several newspapers and magazines, including USA Today, Newsweek, Time, Swimming World magazine, and Sports Illustrated. Van Dyken was a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, and the Today Show. She was featured in a milk ad with a photograph taken by world-renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz, and she was honored with her own Wheaties box.