Janet Evans
Janet Beth Evans OLY[1] (born August 28, 1971) is an American former competition swimmer who swam 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 at the 1988 and the 1992 Olympics, becoming the first American woman to win four individual Olympic gold medals in swimming.[2]
High School era swimming
[edit]Born in Fullerton, California, Evans grew up in neighboring Placentia, where she started swimming competitively by the age of 5.[3] 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 the mid-1980's was Bud McAllister.[4]
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 the Year.[3] [5]
College era
[edit]Evans attended Stanford University, where she swam for the Stanford Cardinal swimming and diving team from 1989 to 1991 under Hall of Fame Head Coach Skip Kenney.[6] 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.[7][8]
When the NCAA placed weekly hours limits on athletic training time, she quit the Stanford swim team to focus on training. She later attended the University of Texas at Austin before graduating from the University of Southern California with a bachelor's degree in communications in 1994.[9]
Swim style and technique
[edit]Evans was distinctive for her unorthodox "windmill" stroke and her apparently inexhaustible 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, she was reputed to have often completed workouts as long as 13,000 meters, the equivalent of 8 miles.[3] 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.[10]
Honors
[edit]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 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.[11] In a rather exlusive honor, Evans was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in 2001.[12] In 1995, Evans was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.[13]
Swimming highlights
[edit]In 1987, she broke the world records in the 400-meter, 800-meter, and 1,500-meter freestyle distances.[2]
1988 Olympics
[edit]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.[14] In these Olympics, Evans set 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.[15]
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.[15]
Evans held the world record in the 800-meter freestyle, 8:16:22, that she set in August 1989, until it 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 a period when international competition was interrupted by world war.[15]
Following her outstanding performance of 1988, Evans continued to dominate the world's long-distance swimming competitions (400 meters and above). She would astonishingly go undefeated in all of the 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle events for over five years.[2]
1992 Olympics
[edit]She became the first woman to capture back-to-back Olympic and world championship titles in any one swimming event by winning 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, taking second to German swimmer Dagmar Hase, whom she led for almost the entire competition but was narrowly caught at the end. At Barcelona she won a gold in the 800-meter freestyle, another signature distance event.[15][16][2]
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 the 100-year history of the competition.[2]
1996 Olympics
[edit]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.[15]
On July 27, 1996, she 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.[16]
In 1996 Olympic heats, Evans finished ninth in the preliminaries of the 400-meter freestyle. She did not qualify for 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.[15]
At the 1996 Atlanta Games, American swimming officials criticized Ireland's Michelle Smith about her unexpected gold medals,[17] suggesting that she might have been using performance-enhancing drugs. When asked about the accusations, Evans said that when anyone like Smith showed such 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,[18] 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 a urine sample.[19]
2012 Olympic trials
[edit]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.[20] At the 2012 Olympic Trials, at the age of 40, she ended up finishing 80th out of 113 swimmers in the 400-meter freestyle[21] and 53rd out of 65 swimmers in the 800-meter freestyle.[22]
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 was the first American woman to win four individual Olympic gold medals in swimming. [2]
Swimming administration
[edit]In 2010, Evans returned to competitive swimming in Masters swimming.[23]
She married Bill Willson in 2004, with whom she has two children. As of June 2012, the family lives in Laguna Beach, California.[24]
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 a candidate city.[25] Los Angeles was ultimately awarded the 2028 Summer Olympics at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru, on September 13, 2017.[26] As of 2020, Evans works with the organizing committee for the 2028 Summer Olympics in the executive leadership role of chief athlete officer.[27]
As of August 2019, Evans works as chief athlete officer for the 2028 Summer Olympics organizing committee.[28]
See also
[edit]- List of members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame
- List of multiple Olympic gold medalists
- List of multiple Olympic gold medalists at a single Games
- List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)
- List of Stanford University people
- List of University of Southern California people
- List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (women)
- World record progression 400 metres freestyle
- World record progression 800 metres freestyle
- World record progression 1500 metres freestyle
References
[edit]- ^ "WOA Leadership". World Olympians Association. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f "Janet Evans, Honor Swimmer, International Swimming Hall of Fame". ishof.org. Retrieved November 11, 2024.
- ^ a b c Coaches McAllister and Milich in DiGiovanna, Mike, She Who Laughs Last", The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, 12 July 1986, pg. 77
- ^ Fullerton Aquatics Sports Team web site, Accessed September 21, 2016.
- ^ Marcia C. Smith (July 11, 2010). "Swimmer Evans joins High School Hall of Fame". The Orange County Register. Archived from the original on July 23, 2011.
- ^ FitzGerald, Tom (March 10, 2007). "Stanford swim coach pulled from job; Kenney suspended for erasing records of 5 of his athletes". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ Collegiate Women Sports Awards, Past Honda Sports Award Winners for Swimming & Diving. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
- ^ "Olympian Julia Smit wins Honda Sports Award for swimming | The Dish". news.stanford.edu. Stanford News. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
- ^ Frank Litsky (August 21, 1994). "Swimming – Evans Becomes Older, Wiser, Taller, Heavier and, Best of All, Happier". The New York Times.
- ^ "EXCLUSIVE: Janet Evans on Fighting the Good Fight". Swimming World. May 3, 2005. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
- ^ "88 for 1988: Meet Southern California's Rising Stars". Los Angeles Times. January 10, 1988. Archived from the original on October 19, 2019.
- ^ "Janet Evans (USA)". ISHOF.org. International Swimming Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
- ^ "USC, Olympic Heritage". usc.edu. Retrieved November 11, 2024.
- ^ "News UK". Times-olympics.co.uk. Archived from the original on December 10, 2000. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f "Olympedia bio, Janet Evans". olympedia.org. Retrieved November 11, 2024.
- ^ a b "Evans' success stood test of time". Orange County Register. June 3, 2008. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
- ^ "Speedo USA - Janet Evans Olympic Gold Medalist". Socialbilitty.com. March 13, 2014. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
- ^ "Under Suspicion After Winning Three Gold Medals In Atlanta, Irish Swimmer Michelle Smith Should Be A Big Star--But Too Many People Believe That Her Victories Were Drug-Aided". Sports Illustrated. April 14, 1997. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
- ^ Lohn, John (July 10, 2021). "The Con of Michelle Smith: How the Irish Lass Cheated the Swimming World". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on May 18, 2021. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
- ^ Michaelis, Vicki (June 12, 2011). "Janet Evans setting records in comeback attempt". USA Today. Retrieved June 17, 2011.
- ^ "Janet Evans fails to reach 400 freestyle final at U.S. Olympic swimming trials". Espn.go.com. June 26, 2012. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
- ^ "2012 Olympics - Janet Evans, 40, misses 800 qualifying, ending comeback". Espn.go.com. June 30, 2012. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
- ^ "Distance Superstar Janet Evans Returning to Competitive Swimming in Masters". Swimming World Magazine. November 4, 2010. Archived from the original on August 29, 2012.
- ^ Reid, Scott M. (June 9, 2012). "Janet Evans, 40, swims for another Olympics". The Orange County Register. p. 9. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
- ^ https://la24.org/team [permanent dead link]
- ^ Wharton, David (July 31, 2017). "Los Angeles makes deal to host 2028 Summer Olympics". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
- ^ NBCLosAngeles.com (Sept. 2020) https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/sports/olympic-swimmer-janet-evans-talks-about-la28-emblem/2421965/
- ^ https://www.linkedin.com/in/janet-evans-oly-88b179174/ [self-published source]
External links
[edit]
- Official website (archived) at the Wayback Machine (archived March 8, 2022)
- Janet Evans (USA) – International Swimming Hall of Fame
- Janet Evans at Olympedia
- Janet Evans at IMDb
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| International | |
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| National | |
- 1971 births
- Living people
- American female freestyle swimmers
- American female medley swimmers
- World record setters in swimming
- James E. Sullivan Award recipients
- Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m)
- Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming
- Olympic silver medalists for the United States in swimming
- Sportspeople from Fullerton, California
- Stanford Cardinal women's swimmers
- Swimmers at the 1988 Summer Olympics
- Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics
- Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics
- University of Southern California alumni
- University of Texas at Austin alumni
- World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming
- Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics
- 20th-century American sportswomen