Natalie Coughlin

Natalie Coughlin

“If you could see my face, I was slightly shocked… I was thinking about BBQ and no warm down. It was a strange race. I really didn’t expect it,” Natalie Coughlin said after one of the most intense races of her life. A hero, to me, is someone who never gives up, someone you can look up to and is inspirational. Natalie Coughlin, an Olympic swimmer, is my hero because of her hard work and determination. She helps me believe in myself and to keep swimming even when times are difficult.

Natalie has lots of honorable qualities. Natalie Anne Coughlin, also known as Golden Girl, is twenty-eight years old and is 5’8” tall. During the 2006 Winter Olympics, in Turin, Italy, Natalie worked as an in-studio host for MSNBC. Natalie combines power, speed, and beauty in her swimming. She is especially strong at the 100 meter races and has a time under a minute in the 100 meter backstroke. Natalie has lots of amazing qualities and three of them are determination, confidence, and commitment. She would have never become such a fantastic swimmer if she hadn’t had these things. Also she would never be such a great swimmer without her coach Teri Mckeever. “She is one of the hardest working and most committed people you’ll ever come across,” Mckeever says. All of these admirable qualities make Natalie a better person and helped her become who she is.

Natalie’s family is all really proud of her. Natalie has only one sibling named Megan but the rest of her family is proud of Natalie too. She has her parents, Zennie and James, her grandparents, Zennie and Chuck Bohn and her husband Ethan Hall to cheer her on and give her the confidence and attention she needs. Natalie has lots of people to help her through rough times and enormous races.

Natalie had a terrific start to her life as a swimmer. Natalie was born August 23, 1982 in Vallejo, California. Natalie was born in Vallejo but also grew up in Concord. Natalie began swimming at only ten months old! Natalie graduated from Carondelet high school in Concord Cal. She then attended the University of California at Berkeley for college. All of these things supported her in starting up her swimming career.

Natalie has done a huge amount of exiting things in her life. The most fun thing Natalie has ever done - besides getting married - is “Dancing with the stars, hands down and I wish it lasted longer.”. This exiting event she has done helped make her life more interesting and fun.

If Natalie could do a winter sport she says it would have to be snowboard cross. Natalie says “By far it’s my most favorite and the most fair. Winter sports are so difficult to watch because it seems in every winter sport; there is so much luck involved: Not getting knocked over by another competitor or the politics of being judged.” That’s why Natalie would pick snowboard cross.

Natalie had some injuries and failures in her lifetime. In 1999 Natalie suffered from a shoulder injury. She had torn cartilage in her shoulder which led her to fail to make the U.S. team for the 2000 Olympics. Last summer she traveled to Barcelona with expectations of being the female counterpart to Michel Phelps at the world championships but she became ill and failed to win the individual medal. But both the injury and failure didn’t stop her.

Natalie has more accomplishments than failures. Natalie won every National honor in America available by her junior year in college. She was the first to qualify for the summer Olympics in all fourteen events and is known for her dominance and underwater kicking. She was also the first woman to swim the 100 yard backstroke under a minute. Natalie won eleven medals in the Olympics, five medals in the 2004 Olympics (two gold, two silver, and one bronze) and six in the 2008 Olympics (one gold, two silver, and three bronze). Her sister Megan says, “she wants to be known for other things than swimming.” Besides her awards and accomplishments in swimming she had time to obtain her degree in psychology in 2005. These accomplishments helped her with swimming, schooling and becoming a better person.

Natalie Coughlin is an amazing person and swimmer. She is still swimming today and doesn’t know if she wants to get into the next Olympic team yet. She is training about once or twice a day and she then does Pilates. She has put much determination and commitment into her swimming. Natalie never gives up and will always keep going even in times of failure. That’s why Natalie Coughlin is my hero.