List of Famous Swimmers

Klete Derik Keller is an American former competition swimmer who won medals at the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Summer Olympics in the 400-meter freestyle and the 4×200-meter freestyle relay.

Franziska van Almsick is a German swimmer. She won her first Olympic medals in 1992 at the Barcelona Olympic Games aged fourteen.

Nathan Ghar-jun Adrian is an American competitive swimmer and five-time Olympic gold medalist who formerly held the American record in the long course 50-meter freestyle event.

Mark Andrew Spitz is an American former competitive swimmer and nine-time Olympic champion. He was the most successful athlete at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, winning seven gold medals, all in world record time. This was an achievement that lasted for 36 years until it was surpassed by fellow American Michael Phelps, who won eight golds at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Melissa Jeanette Franklin Johnson is an American former competition swimmer and five-time Olympic gold medalist. She formerly held the world record in the 200-meter backstroke. As a member of the U.S. national swim team, she also held the world records in the 4×100-meter medley relay.

Penelope Oleksiak is a Canadian-American competitive swimmer who specializes in the freestyle and butterfly events. During the 2016 Summer Olympics, she became the first Canadian to win four medals in the same Summer Games and the country's youngest Olympic champion, with a gold in the 100 m freestyle, a silver in the 100 m butterfly, and two bronzes in the women's freestyle relays. With her gold medal win, she became the first athlete born in the 2000s to claim an Olympic gold medal in an individual event.

Emma McKeon, is an Australian competitive swimmer. McKeon has won four medals, including one gold, at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, eleven medals, including one gold, at the World Aquatics Championships; and twelve medals, including eight gold, at the 2014 Glasgow and 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Madeline Jane "Maya" DiRado - Andrews is an American former competitive swimmer who specialized in freestyle, butterfly, backstroke, and individual medley events. She attended and swam for Stanford University, where she won NCAA titles in the 200 and 400 yard individual medley in 2014 and graduated with a degree in management science and engineering. At the 2016 US Olympic Trials, DiRado qualified to swim the 200 meter and 400 meter individual medley events, as well as the 200 meter backstroke, at the 2016 Summer Olympics. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, she won a gold medal in the women's 4x200 meter freestyle relay, a silver medal in the 400 meter individual medley, a bronze medal in the women's 200 meter individual medley, and a gold medal in the 200 meter backstroke. Following the Olympics, DiRado retired from the sport.

Simone Ashley Manuel is an American competition swimmer specializing in sprint freestyle. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, she won two gold and two silver medals: gold in the 100-meter freestyle and the 4x100-meter medley, and silver in the 50-meter freestyle and the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. In winning the 100-meter freestyle, a tie with Penny Oleksiak of Canada, Manuel became the first African-American woman to win an individual Olympic gold in swimming and set an Olympic record and an American record.

Sun Yang is a Chinese Olympic and world-record-holding competitive swimmer. In 2012, Sun became the first Chinese man to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming. Sun is the first male swimmer in history to earn Olympic and World Championship gold medals at every freestyle distance between 200 and 1500 metres. A three-time Olympic gold medallist and eleven-time world champion, he is the most decorated Chinese swimmer in history. In 2017, NBC Sports described him as "arguably the greatest freestyle swimmer of all time".