Franziska van Almsick

Franziska van Almsick (born 5 April 1978 in East Berlin, Germany) is a German swimmer. She won her first Olympic medals in 1992 at the Barcelona Olympic Games aged fourteen.

Her career begun at the SC Dynamo Berlin. Over her career, Van Almsick earned ten career Olympic medals, none of them gold. She ended her career at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004.

In 1993, she was named by Swimming World magazine as the Female World Swimmer of the Year. Her son Don Hugo was born on 7 January 2007.



Franziska van Almsick never had a corner on success. Moments of triumph were often followed by bitter defeats. She would be exalted high - and at the very next moment be showered with envy and gloating. Similar to Boris Becker she has experienced extreme ups and downs, and this may be the main reason for people having such a persistent interest in her.

Otylia Jedrzejczak

Otylia Jędrzejczak (About this sound listen (help·info)) (born 13 December 1983) is a Polish swimmer. She is the Olympic champion from Athens 2004 in the 200 metre butterfly. She finished 4th in this event in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She also swam in a third Olympiad, at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. In Athens 2004 she also silvered in 400 m freestyle and 100 m butterfly. Three times she broke the world record in the women's 200 m butterfly (once in the 25-metre pool).

Jędrzejczak was born in Ruda Śląska, Silesian Voivodship, Poland. She started swimming at the age of six as a measure to correct a slight curvature of the spine. At first she hated the sport. Her attitude towards it changed after she had won her first prize in a competition in Germany at the age of eight. Jędrzejczak took up swimming seriously in high school. Led by coach Maria Jakóbik, she won her first titles in the Junior European Championships in 1999. Medals in the Senior European Championships in 1999 and 2000 opened the way to her first Olympic appearance.

Jędrzejczak studied at the Academy of Physical Education in Warsaw (Akademia Wychowania Fizycznego w Warszawie). Her coach is Paweł Słomiński. She stands 187 cm (6 ft 1½ in) tall and wears a size 46 (EU)/13 (US) shoe.

For her sport achievements, she received:
Knight's Cross Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (5th Class) in 2004.

Personal information
Full name : Otylia Jędrzejczak
Country : Poland
Stroke(s) : Freestyle and butterfly
Club : AZS-AWF Warszawa
Date of birth : 13 December 1983 (1983-12-13)
Place of birth: Ruda Śląska, Śląskie
Height : 1.87 m (6 ft 1 1⁄2 in)

Yvetta Hlavacova

Yvetta Hlaváčová (born 26 May 1975) is a Czech national team member in long-distance swimming and women’s world record holder from swimming the English Channel in a time of 7 h, 25 mins

While she has pursued indoor swimming, she has earned much more success on the open water. The swimmer has been at the top of long-distance swimming for several years.

At 6ft4.5" (194 cm) she is one of the tallest swimmers in the world. Her feet are a whopping size 13 (US) / 46 (EU).

At only 10 years old, she carried her school bag around and was 170 CM tall, infact the rail people did not want to seel her rail tickets. I am that height now, so she was my height when she was 10. So I am like a 10 year old compared to her in terms of height. How humbling and amazing. But as the cleverest person in the world, that humbleness does not last long for me. She at times was too thin to carry her bag and have her food. Most people in the world never grow to be over 170 cm tall.

Successful English Channel Swims
* 2005 in 8 h 42 mins
* 2006 in 7 h 25 mins (WR)
* 2007 in 7 h 53 mins

stats
Born : May 26, 1975 (1975-05-26)
Boskovice, Czech Republic
Nationality : Czech
Occupation : Swimmer, Fashion model
Height: 6 ft 4.5 in (1.94 m)
Weight: 174 lb (79 kg; 12.4 st)

Kara Lynn Joyce

Kara Lynn Joyce (born October 25, 1985 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American swimmer and four-time Olympic silver medalist.

High school career
Joyce split her high school years between Webster, New York and Ann Arbor, Michigan, where the family relocated to in 2001. It was in Ann Arbor that Joyce began training with Club Wolverine under Jon Urbanchek. Joyce also chose to compete for her high school team, the Ann Arbor Pioneers. In her senior year of high school, she set five Michigan High School State records, four of which were National High School records at the time. (Her state records are in the 50 m, 100 m and 200 m freestyle as well as the 200 m and 400 m freestyle relays. While only able to swim a total of 4 events, Joyce set the 50 m freestyle record by leading-off the 200 m freestyle relay.)

In total, Joyce broke a total of 5 National High School records.

Collegiate career
Joyce swam for Jack Bauerle at the University of Georgia (UGA). During her freshman campaign, Joyce won 5 NCAA titles including two individual titles (50 m freestyle, 100 m freestyle), helping Georgia to its third consecutive runner-up finish. As a sophomore, Joyce along with junior Mary DeScenza led Georgia to its first NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championship in 4 years by defending her individual titles in the 50 m and 100 m freestyle as well as adding a 4th place in the 200 m freestyle. Joyce was also a key swimmer on four of Georgia's five NCAA Championship relays. En route to their victory, Georgia became the first team in NCAA swimming history to win all five relays.

During the 2006 NCAA Championships, contested at UGA's Gabrielsen Natatorium, Joyce led the Bulldogs to a second place finish with five NCAA titles and Swimmer of the Year honors. On the first day of the meet, Joyce broke the American Record in the 50 m freestyle (scy), previously held by former Bulldog Maritza Correia. Joyce defended her 100 m freestyle title and added to that with a win in the 200 m freestyle. By winning all three, Joyce became the first swimmer in the 25 year history of the Women's NCAA Championship Meet to win the 50 m, 100 m, and 200 m freestyle events.

Personal information
Full name : Kara Lynn Joyce
Country : United States
Stroke(s) : Freestyle
Club: FAST Swim Team
College team : University of Georgia
Date of birth : October 25, 1985 (1985-10-25)
Place of birth : Brooklyn, NY, USA
Height : 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)

Amanda Beard

Amanda Ray Beard (born October 29, 1981 in Newport Beach, California), is an American Olympic-level swimmer and model. Beard participated in the 1996 Summer Olympics, 2000 Summer Olympics, 2004 Summer Olympics, and 2008 Summer Olympics, capturing a total of seven medals, the most recent in the 2004 games. She held the world number one ranking of 200 meter breaststrokers in 2003. In U.S. competition, Beard won three 200 meter breaststroke, three 100 meter breaststroke, and two 200 meter individual medley US National titles.

Her modeling work has included appearances in FHM, the 2006 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, and she posed nude for the July 2007 issue of Playboy magazine.

She is a spokeswoman for Defenders of Wildlife, and enjoys interior decorating. Both of her sisters, Leah and Taryn, are swimmers. Amanda placed eighth in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Celebrity car race in 2006.

In November 2007, Beard made her first television commercial for GoDaddy entitled "Shock". It featured her "flashing" the seven Olympic medals she won from 1996-2004. Mark Spitz made a cameo appearance.

In April 2008, she joined Fox Network's popular sports talk program, The Best Damn Sports Show Period as a correspondent, covering major sporting events.

In 2008, Beard participated in an anti-fur campaign for the organization PETA. She was photographed nude in front of an American Flag. The flag in that photograph is hung incorrectly according the United States Flag Code with the blue field to the upper right. Shortly after the PETA campaign was released, accusations of hypocrisy surfaced where Beard told a fashion blogger the year before that her favorite shoes were leather sandals and that she would never buy a low-quality jacket during an interview with SmartMoney magazine.

Personal bests
Beard's personal bests in long-course meters are:
* 100 m breaststroke: 1:07.42 Swimming at the 2003 World Aquatics Championships
* 200 m breaststroke: 2:22.44 US Olympic Swimming Trials 2004
* 200 m individual medley: 2:11.70 Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Personal information
Full name : Amanda Beard
Country : United States
Stroke(s) : Breaststroke, Individual Medley
Date of birth : October 29, 1981 (1981-10-29) (age 29)
Place of birth : Newport Beach, California, United States
Height : 1.72 m (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in)