Amanda Beard Biography - Trained For Olympics, Captures Three Olympic Medals, Peaked Again, Beard's Impact, Chronology
swimming told california swimmer
1981-
American swimmer
Amanda Beard, the youngest swimmer on the 1996 U.S. Olympic team, became a national hero when she captured one gold and two silver medals at the Summer Games in Atlanta. Fans adored the spunky 14-year-old from California, who clutched a lucky teddy bear on the medal stand, and who swam to greatness with a youthful innocence. Although her swimming career slumped just following the 1996 Olympics, Beard made a comeback. After winning a bronze medal in the 200-meter breaststroke at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Beard won an NCAA championship and again became a top contender in professional women's swimming. In 2002 she broke the American record in the 200-meter breaststroke, and collected several medals in national and international swimming competitions.
Beard was the youngest of three daughters born in Irvine, California. Beard's older sisters, Leah and Taryn, had joined a local swim program, piquing their little sister's interest. When five-year-old Beard told her family she would swim in the Olympics one day, her parents just smiled. "There wasn't exactly a swimming gene pool here," her father, Dan Beard told Leigh Montville of Sports Illustrated. "We weren't setting out to make
Amanda Beard
champions. We just liked the benefits of the sport, the competition, the fact that it makes kids schedule their time, the friendships that it brings." Beard also played soccer and softball, took jazz and tap-dancing lessons, and cared for the family's many pets.
Additional Topics
Beard started swimming for the Colony Red Hots; at age 13 she joined the Irvine Novaquatics. Upon Novaquatics' coach Dave Salo's recommendation, Beard's parents agreed to let their daughter start training full-time in swimming. She would swim five afternoons and three early mornings a week. Initially, Beard disliked the breaststroke, preferring the vigorous butterfly. But trai…
Beard became a media darling. She was the youngest member of the 1996 Olympic swim team, and the youngest Olympic swimmer since Nicole Kramer in 1976. Sports reporters regaled fans with stories about Beard's love for animals and her dream of pursuing an adult career as an interior decorator. "She likes to race and she refuses to be beaten," Olympic team coach Don Wagner told J…
When Beard attended the 2000 Olympic trials, she no longer carried her lucky teddy bear. Instead, the sophomore-to-be from the University of Arizona showed up with two tattoos and a pierced tongue. Though considered a long shot, she made the team, finishing second in the 200 breaststroke. "I saw the '2' by my name," she told the Associated Press. "Take 1996 and t…
Beard gambled at a young age, devoting herself exclusively to swimming, and it paid off in a successful career. "It's all great, but it's scary, too," her mother, Gayle Beard told Montville. "You have to put your trust in a lot of people, some of whom you really don't know very well."
Even after stumbling in the late 1990s, Beard had earned eno…
Citing this material
Please include a link to this page if you have found this material useful for research or writing a related article. Content on this website is from high-quality, licensed material originally published in print form. You can always be sure you're reading unbiased, factual, and accurate information.
Highlight the text below, right-click, and select “copy”. Paste the link into your website, email, or any other HTML document.
User Comments
29 days ago
Sports is the best thing, it supports to keeps the body function into good and well. I love to play games in my life.
Playing games supports to keep the body into fit and well. It also supports to keep the body from the various health issue. Especially it supports to protect from the ED problem in the men life. ED problem is a curable health issue. This problem is easily cured by using the generic viagra-http://www.angelmeds.com/generic-viagra-online.html
over 3 years ago
Thanks for More information provide Top 3 Packers and Movers Delhi services
http://3th.co.in/packers-and-movers-delhi/
http://3th.co.in/packers-and-movers-noida/
http://3th.co.in/packers-and-movers-ghaziabad/
http://3th.co.in/packers-and-movers-faridabad/
over 3 years ago
Thanks for More information provide Export moving and packing services at local shifting
http://www.export5th.in/packers-and-movers-in-pune/
http://www.export5th.in/packers-and-movers-in-mumbai/
http://www.export5th.in/packers-and-movers-in-bangalore/
http://www.export5th.in/packers-and-movers-in-hyderabad/