Janet Evans

Evans was born in Fullerton, California, on August 28, 1971. The youngest of the three children of Paul (a veterinarian) and Barbara (a homemaker) Evans, she grew up in nearby Placentia. She was walking by the time she was eight months old, and she first hit the water at the age of one, taking a brief dip in the swimming pool at the nearby North Orange County YMCA. Her mother enrolled Evans in swimming classes, and by the time she was 3 years old she was able to do both the breaststroke and the butterfly. Barbara Evans kept a close eye on her daughter's development, making sure that she ate right, got to bed on time, and adhered to her swimming practice schedule. Full of energy, Janet was always on the go, even away from the pool, tagging along with her older brothers, David and John. Of her daughter's high energy level, Barbara told Sports Illustrated: "When Janet was 2, she would stand in the middle of the kitchen, doing the hula hoop for 20 minutes nonstop. The only thing that seemed to calm her down was being in the water."

As a member of the Swim Team of Placentia, 10-year-old Evans broke the national record for children 10-and-under in the 200-meter freestyle. The following year she qualified for the U.S. Junior Olympics and finished 47th out of 81 swimmers participating. Officials wanted Evans to compete against younger swimmers because she was small for her age, but she refused to do so. "Janet fought and fought with one official," her mother recalled in Sports Illustrated. "He said, 'I think you belong with the 10-year-olds'; she said, 'I think you're wrong. This is my race.'" To compensate for her smaller stature, Evans moved her arms and legs faster than her opponents. "I never saw myself as being small," she told Sports Illustrated. "Size doesn't matter as long as you can get to the end of the pool faster than everybody else." To be sure she could do this, Evans threw herself into training with a vengeance. She got up each morning at five to practice before attending classes at El Dorado High School. After school, she lifted weights and rode an exercise bike before hitting the pool once again in the late afternoon.