There are few athletes who can make a mark on their sport like American swimming star Natalie Coughlin has.
Tonight, in Toronto , Coughlin won her 60th international medal spanning the Olympic Games, World Championships, Pan Pacific Championships, and now the Pan American Games.
As soon as Allison Schmitt touched for gold in the women’s 4x100m medley relay on the final day of competition it was set in stone that Coughlin had done something others could only dream of accomplishing in their lifetime.
Coughlin played a major part in securing the gold medal for the United States, leading off the relay with a 59.05 backstroke split. That time is the fastest Coughlin has been since the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and the fastest she’s ever been outside of the Beijing Olympic Games or 2008 Olympic Trials.
With the third fastest time in the world this year, Coughlin gave the Americans such a steady lead that they looked absolutely unbeatable.
Coughlin has been stellar all week. In the 100m freestyle, she swam the fastest time she has done since 2010. In the 50m freestyle, Coughlin managed a personal best time with a 24.66.
Coughlin’s success in the sport is unrivaled at this point. It was over 14-years ago that Coughlin won her first international medal when she took home two world titles at the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka Japan.
During her career she has won 12 Olympic medals, 20 long course world championship medals, eight short course world championship medals, and now four Pan American games medals.
With some extremely strong performances this past week in Toronto, Coughlin looks to be as good as she always was as the United States Olympic Trials in Omaha are under a year away.
A 15-year career! Unbelievably, for 14 of them she has remained active, and near the top of world rankings. Natalie hit the international stage in 2001. Who else has been around that long? Phelps and Hackett? Both of whom have taken various… ahem… “leaves of absence” throughout their careers? Natalie only took a dignified step away in 2009, while a bunch of her records fell to the polyurethane feeding frenzy.
Amazing that she has 60 international medals seemingly WITHOUT chasing that number. Folks like Phelps/Lochte/Hosszu love running up their score, but Natalie always enters 2-3 events at championships. I believe she had (or has) World Record potential in ALL 3 backstrokes, possibly the flys and IM. I have to respect… Read more »
I don’t think Phelps/Lochte/Hosszu are “running up the score.” They are swimming races in which they can do well and shouldn’t be faulted for that. While the fact that Natalie has reached this milestone while only doing a few races per competition speaks to her longevity, I think it’s also incredibly impressive and admirable to be able to win 5-8 medals at one international competition. Also, I’m pretty sure Natalie still chases medals and accomplishments. She’s not necessarily putting the number of medals she can get second to her training. If she did more races, she may not have been able to perform as well and win those medals. I think it’s unfair to characterize some as “medal chasers” when… Read more »
Being an old fish, I also jump for joy at her acomplishment. !
I too pray she stays healthy in mind and body, And adds to her collection!!!!
Grant hackett also holds the title for “most second place finishes to Ian Thorpe”
I know this ship has sailed, but I really wish Natalie would’ve pursued the 200 IM more. In my mind, that casual 2:09 AR (at the time) was just scratching the surface of her potential. Beyond elated to see her posting these times again!
Agreed, though assuming her shoulders means that ship has sailed.
Just honestly pretty pumped about her swims today, that’s pretty awesome.
I so agree with you. And the 100 fly also!
I know what you mean. I was at that meet at USC where she casually dropped the 2:09 and I couldn’t believe it. You could tell that she couldn’t believe it either. The casual crowd applauded politely but some of us who knew what it meant stood up and gave her a longer ovation. It was a windy day so not even the most optimal conditions. She “only” went 2:10 for the bronze in Beijing that year, but she had so many other events. It’s always been a difficult event for her emotionally because of what happened in 2000, and I don’t think she’ll ever do it again, but it would be amazing if she did.
A slightly more exhaustive search has found Jenny Thompson won 81 for the women’s side.
Of interest…Grant Hackett has 57 I believe, which means he could get the magic mark of 60 if he swims after Rio (or does very well at Rio and Kazan).
Not quite 60, but Yana Klochova won 55 medals. The impressive thing is that all 55 medals were won individually…she did not swim on a single medal winning Ukrainian relay her entire career.
For comparison, just over half (41) of Thompson’s 81 were relays, and 36 of Coughlin’s 60 were on relays. Phelps has “only” 42 individual medals and even Lochte, the most decorated swimmer I’ve found, has 52 solo medals to Klochova’s 55.
Some more female swimmers with more international medals than Coughlin: Therese Alshammar with 72, and Martina Moravcova with 67.
Which, while slightly off-topic, means that between Kazan and Rio, we should be looking out for Lochte to get four more individual medals to top Klochova. Interesting statistic.
Certainly unprecedented on the women’s side
Impressive? Yes. Remarkable? Yes. Unprecedented? No.
Dictionary.com defines unprecedented as meaning” without previous instance; never before known or experienced; unexampled or unparalleled.”
Massi Rosolino won 65 international medals. Michael Phelps has won 61 GOLD medals alone, and 77 total. Ryan Lochte has won a whopping 85. Sixty is impressive, but it has been done before, and that wasn’t too difficult a list to come up with.
Sorry for excessive nitpicking.
Unprecedented for the women? Just trying to help…Natalie is awesome…I hope she will stay healthy for trials.
I do too, 100%. I think there is a shot of her winning a medal in Rio in the 100 back. In London it took a 58.8 to medal, which is only 2 tenths faster than Natalie right now.
Today she was THIS close to breaking 59. Since January 2013, only Missy, Seebohm, Terakawa (since retired) and Madison Wilson have broken the barrier. Natalie is now the 4th best active 100 backstroker of the Olympic cycle.
While she is aging, she seems to be doing pretty well to me, and if she devotes slightly more focus to backstroke I wonder if she could go faster yet and drop to 58 mid. That might sound ridiculous, but before today… Read more »