Michael Fred Phelps (born June 30, 1985) is an American swimmer and 14-time Olympic gold medalist (the most by any Olympian), who currently holds seven world records in swimming.Celizic, Mike. [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26194188 "Phelps officially world's greatest athlete ever"]. MSNBC News. 2008-08-15

He holds the record for the most gold medals won at a single Olympics; a total of eight, surpassing Mark Spitz, also a swimmer. Overall, Phelps has won 16 Olympic medals: six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In winning these medals, he has twice equaled Soviet gymnast Alexander Dityatin's record of eight medals (of any type) at a single Olympics (Dityatin: Moscow 1980; Phelps: Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008). Out of his eight gold medals from Beijing, five were won in individual events, tying the record for individual gold medals at a single Games originally set by Eric Heiden in the 1980 Winter Olympics and equaled by Vitaly Scherbo at the 1992 Summer Games. Phelps ranks second in total career Olympic medals, after Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina, who won a total of 18 medals (nine gold) spanning three Olympic Games.

Phelps' international titles, along with his various world records, have resulted in him being awarded the World Swimmer of the Year Award in 2003, 2004, 2006, and 2007 and American Swimmer of the Year Award in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, and 2007. Phelps has won a total of 48 career medals thus far: 40 gold, six silvers and two bronze. This includes all of the Championships in which he has competed: The Olympics, the World Championships, and the Pan Pacific Championships.

Brendan Joseph Hansen (born August 15, 1981 in Havertown, Pennsylvania) is an American swimmer who specializes in the breaststroke. He is a four-time Olympic medalist and multiple record holder.

Ryan Lochte (born August 3, 1984) is an American swimmer. He is a multiple world record holder and Olympic gold medalist. He is a 2004 Olympic Champion in the 4x200m Freestyle, Olympic silver medalist in the 200m Medley and 2008 Olympics Champion in the 200m Backstroke , the 4x200m Freestyle, and bronze medalist in the 400m and 200m individual medley.

Lochte specializes in the backstroke and individual medley, but is also a freestyle relay swimmer. He is noted for the speed and distance he attai...

Aaron Wells Peirsol (born July 23, 1983 in Irvine, California) is an Olympic-level swimmer from the United States of America. Peirsol participated in the 2000 Summer Olympics, 2004 Summer Olympics, and 2008 Summer Olympics, capturing a total of seven medals. He is best known for sweeping the gold medals in the backstroke at the Athens games. Peirsol has also won the world championships in the 100 meter backstroke in 2003, 2005 and 2007, and won 200 meter backstroke in 2001, 2003 and 2005.

Cullen Jones (born 29 February 1984, New York City, New York, United States) is a U.S. freestyle sprint swimmer and Olympic gold medalist.

Katherine Elise "Katie" Hoff (born June 3, 1989 in Palo Alto, California) is an American swimmer. Hoff is strongest in the 200 and 400 meter individual medley, though she is a very capable swimmer in many events, ranging from the four 200 meter events to the 800 meter freestyle. She competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics and 2008 Summer Olympics, in which she captured a silver and two bronze medals.

Whitney Myers (born September 8, 1984 in Oxford, Ohio) is an American swimmer. She swims for Tucson Ford Dealer Aquatics, in Tucson, Az. She also swam for the University of Arizona. She won a gold metal at the 2006 Pan-Pacific championships in Victoria, Canada, in the 200 meter individual medley, just out-touching team-mate Katie Hoff.

She is featured on the cover of the March 2007 issue of Swimming World Magazine.

She swam for Ursuline Academy in Cincinnati, Ohio for her high school career

"Whitn...

Dara Grace Torres (born April 15, 1967) is an American swimmer. She is the first swimmer from the United States to compete in five Olympics: 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000, and 2008. She competed in the Beijing Olympic Games in the 50 meter freestyle, 4×100 medley relay, and 4×100 freestyle relay and wonUS swimmer Torres washes away generation gap the silver medal in all three of these events.

Torres has won twelve Olympic medals (four gold, four silver, four bronze), five of which she won in the Syd...

Natalie Anne Coughlin (born August 23, 1982 in Vallejo, California) is a American swimmer who has represented the United States at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, and at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. At the Beijing Olympics, she became the first American female athlete in modern Olympic history to win six medals in one Olympics and the first woman ever to win a 100 m backstroke gold in two consecutive Olympics. She is known for her dominance in a short course pool and for her underwater kicking ability. She currently holds World, American and US Open records in various events and has eleven Olympic medals.

Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950) is a retired American swimmer, best known for winning seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, an achievement surpassed only when Michael Phelps won his eighth gold medal of the 2008 Olympics. Between 1968 and 1972, Spitz won nine Olympic gold medals, one silver, and one bronze; five Pan American golds; 31 National U.S. Amateur Athletic Union titles; and eight U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association Championships. During those years, he set 33 world records.International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame He was named World Swimmer of the Year in 1969, 1971 and 1972.

Mark Schubert was the head coach for both the University of Southern California men's and women's swim teams. He previously coached at the University of Texas from 1989 to 1992 where he coached NCAA champions such as Lee Ann Fetter and Whitney Hedgepeth Mark Schubert . During his career, his teams have won 3 NCAA Championships and 49 NCAA individual titles.

He has also served as the United States Swimming Olympic Head Coach during the 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 Olympic summer ga...

Grant George Hackett OAM (born May 9, 1980) is an Australian swimmer most famous for winning the men's 1500 metres freestyle race at both the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. This achievement has led him to be regarded as one of the greatest distance swimmers in history. He also collected a gold medal in Sydney for swimming in the heats of the 4×200 m freestyle relay. He is well regarded for his versatility, being the world record holder in t...

Gary Hall, Sr. (born August 7 1951 in Fayetteville, North Carolina) is an American ophthalmologist who practiced in Phoenix, Arizona who became famous during the late 1960s and the 1970s, as an Olympic swimmer for the United States.

Hall first went to represent the United States in the 1968 Olympic Games held at Mexico City, Mexico. Two years later he broke the world record in the 200 m butterfly.

His undergraduate swimming occurred at Indiana University where he specialized in the individual med...