Tracy Caulkins

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Olympic medal record
Women’s Swimming
Gold	1984 Los Angeles	200 m Individual medley
Gold	1984 Los Angeles	400 m Individual medley
Gold	1984 Los Angeles	4x100 m Medley relay

Tracy Ann Caulkins (born January 11, 1963) is a former three time gold medal winning swimmer from the United States.

Caulkins is perhaps best remembered for her adeptness at all four major competitive swimming strokes; the butterfly, breaststroke, backstroke, and freestyle. Caulkins competed at various levels in all four strokes and also in the individual medley, which combines all four strokes over the course of a single race, and won national titles in all five races. This versatility brought Caulkins many titles and awards, and as a result she is considered one of the greatest swimmers of all-time. By the time she retired from swimming, Caulkins had set five world records and an incredible 63 American records (more than any other American swimmer, male or female).

Born in Winona, Minnesota, Caulkins swam for the Nashville Aquatic Club, and is considered one the greatest athletes to ever be from or live in Tennessee. Caulkins would go on to compete at the collegiate level for the University of Florida.

In 1978, Caulkins won the prestigious Sullivan Award given by the Amateur Athletic Union, and was the youngest ever winner of the award at the age of 15. In perhaps her most impressive performance, Tracy won five gold medals and a silver medal in Berlin, Germany at the world championships. Like many other American athletes, she was expected to put in a great performance at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Russia (which was then the communist controlled Soviet Union). However, following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, President Jimmy Carter announced that the United States would not be sending an Olympic team to Moscow in protest to the invasion (see 1980 Olympic boycott). Caulkins was consequently not able to compete at the 1980 Olympics.

Fortunately, Caulkins was able to maintain her competitive level through the next four years. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, Caulkins won individual golds in the 200m individual medley and the 400m individual medley. She also won a relay gold by swimming the breaststroke on the women's 400m medley relay. Caulkins retired from the sport after the games and was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1990.

Caulkins married Mark Stockwell, a swimmer from Australia. At last report, Caulkins lived in the Brisbane area with her husband and children. Caulkins is involved with a series of physiotherapy clinics in Tennessee that bear her name.

Caulkins' ultimate legacy may be that of the best all-around swimmer in American history. While her career did not have the longevity of Jenny Thompson or the Olympic medal talleys of Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps, Caulkins stands high in the pantheon of American swimming greats.

Preceded by: John E. Frank Beth Heiden Terrell L. Hoage Stefan G. Humphries Steve Young	NCAA Top Five Award Class of 1985 Gregg Carr Tracy Caulkins Doug Flutie Mark J. Traynowicz Susan E. Walsh	Succeeded by: Todays Top VI Award James A. Dombrowski Edward D. Eyestone Timothy J. Green Susan K. Harbour Kathryn L. Hayes Lauri A. Young

Olympic champions in women's 200 m individual medley
1968: Claudia Kolb \| 1972: Shane Gould \| 1984: Tracy Caulkins \| 1988: Daniela Hunger \| 1992: Li Lin \| 1996: Michelle Smith \| 2000: Yana Klochkova \| 2004: Yana Klochkova

Olympic champions in women's 400 m individual medley
1964: Donna de Varona \| 1968: Claudia Kolb \| 1972: Gail Neall \| 1976: Ulrike Tauber \| 1980: Petra Schneider \| 1984: Tracy Caulkins \| 1988: Janet Evans \| 1992: Krisztina Egerszegi \| 1996: Michelle Smith \| 2000: Yana Klochkova \| 2004: Yana Klochkova