Janet Evans

Janet Evans

Personal information
Full name	Janet Elizabeth Evans
Nickname(s)	"Beth"
Country	American
Date of birth	August 28, 1971 (1971-08-28) (age 39)
Place of birth	Fullerton, California, U.S.
Height	5'6" (167 cm)
Weight	119 lbs (54 kg)
Medal record Women's swimming Competitor for the  United States Olympic Games Gold 1988 Seoul 400 m freestyle Gold 1988 Seoul 800 m freestyle Gold 1988 Seoul 400 m medley Gold 1992 Barcelona 800 m freestyle Silver 1992 Barcelona 400 m freestyle World Championships (LC) Gold 1991 Perth 400 m freestyle Gold 1991 Perth 800 m freestyle Gold 1994 Rome 800 m freestyle Silver 1991 Perth 200 m freestyle Bronze 1994 Rome 4x200 m freestyle Pan Pacific Championships Gold 1987 Brisbane 400 m freestyle Gold 1987 Brisbane 400 m medley Gold 1989 Tokyo 400 m freestyle Gold 1989 Tokyo 800 m freestyle Gold 1989 Tokyo 400 m medley Gold 1989 Tokyo 4x200 m freestyle Gold 1991 Edmonton 400 m freestyle Gold 1991 Edmonton 800 m freestyle Gold 1991 Edmonton 4x200 m freestyle Gold 1993 Kobe 400 m freestyle Gold 1993 Kobe 800 m freestyle Gold 1993 Kobe 4x200 m freestyle Silver 1987 Brisbane 800 m freestyle Silver 1991 Edmonton 200 m freestyle World Championships (SC) Gold 1993 Palma 400 m freestyle Gold 1993 Palma 800 m freestyle

Janet Elizabeth Evans (born August 28, 1971) is a former American competitive swimmer.

Biography

Born in Placentia, California, Evans started swimming competitively as a child. By the age of 11 she was setting National Age Group records in distance events. She attended El Dorado High School and the University of Southern California.

Evans was distinctive for her unorthodox "windmill" stroke and her apparently inexhaustible cardiorespiratory reserves. Slight of build and short of stature, she more than once found herself competing and winning against bigger and stronger athletes, some of whom—most notably Michelle Smith—were subsequently found to have been using performance-enhancing drugs.

Janet Evans was the 1989 recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States.

She was named the Female World Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World magazine in 1987, 1989 and 1990.

Since her retirement from competitive swimming, Evans has been a motivational speaker and corporate spokesperson for companies such as AT&T, Speedo, Campbell's, PowerBar, John Hancock, Cadillac, and Xerox. In 2008, Evans competed on the NBC show Celebrity Circus.

Career

In 1987, she broke the world records in the 400-, 800-, and 1,500-meter freestyle events. At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, she won three gold medals and earned the nickname "Miss Perpetual Motion". In the games, she set a new world record in the 400-meter freestyle event; this record would hold for 18 years until Laure Manaudou broke it in May 2006. Until June 2007, Evans held the 1,500-meter freestyle record (set in March 1988) when it was broken by Kate Ziegler with a time of 15:42.54. Evans' world record of 8:16.22 in the 800-meter freestyle, set in August 1989, was broken in August 2008 at the Beijing Olympics by Rebecca Adlington of Great Britain with a time of 8:14.10. The 800-meter freestyle record was one of the longest standing ever in the sport of swimming, lasting through four Olympic Games. Only the 100-meter freestyle record of the Dutch swimmer Willy den Ouden stood longer (1936–1956).

Following her 1988 performance, Evans continued to dominate the American and world distance scene. She became the first woman ever to win back-to-back Olympic and World Championship titles in any event, taking the 1988 and 1992 Olympic titles and the 1991 and 1994 World titles in the 800-meter freestyle.

She won the 400-meter and 800-meter freestyle at the U.S. National Championships 12 times each, the most national titles in one event by any swimmer in the 100-year history of the event.

Her career ended with the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. She did not win a medal, but she added one more highlight to her career, when she was given the honor of carrying the Olympic Torch at the Opening Ceremony, handing the torch to U.S. Olympic boxing legend Muhammad Ali to light the cauldron. In the pool, she finished ninth in the prelims of the 400-meter freestyle. She didn't qualify for the finals (nor the B finals), as only the top eight times advance. In the final swim of her career, Evans finished sixth in the 800-meter freestyle.

At the Atlanta Games, Evans outspokenly criticized Ireland's Michelle Smith on the latter's unexpected gold medals, suggesting that she might have been using performance enhancing drugs in the Olympics. Smith was not considered a favorite entering the Games, and her husband and coach Erik de Bruin had failed a drug test in 1993. Indeed, from 1996–97, the International Swimming Federation (FINA) raised concerns about Smith's repeated unavailability for random out-of-competition testing, and Smith received a four-year suspension in 1998 after being found guilty of tampering with a urine sample. However, Smith's medals and records from Atlanta were allowed to stand.

At the end of her career, she held seven world records, five Olympic medals (including four gold), and 45 U.S. national titles — second only to Tracy Caulkins.

External links

• Official website
• Janet Evans Official Bio
• Janet Evans Gold Medal Greats Page
• IOC profile
• Janes Evans - Entry at the International Swimming Hall of Fame (retrieved 2009-12-7)
• Janet Evans at the Internet Movie Database

Records
Preceded by Tracey Wickham	Women's 800 metres freestyle world record holder (long course) July 27, 1987 – August 19, 1987	Succeeded by Anke Möhring
Preceded by Anke Möhring	Women's 800 metres freestyle world record holder (long course) March 22, 1988 – August 16, 2008	Succeeded by Rebecca Adlington
Preceded by Kim Linehan	Women's 1500 metres freestyle world record holder (long course) July 31, 1987 – June 17, 2007	Succeeded by Kate Ziegler
Preceded by Tracey Wickham	Women's 400 metres freestyle world record holder (long course) December 20, 1987 – May 12, 2006	Succeeded by Laure Manaudou
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Kristin Otto	World Swimmer of the Year 1987	Succeeded by Kristin Otto
Preceded by Kristin Otto	World Swimmer of the Year 1989 – 1990	Succeeded by Krisztina Egerszegi
Preceded by Mary T Meagher	World American Swimmer of the Year 1987 – 1991	Succeeded by Summer Sanders

1988 USA Olympic Swimming Team Men's Team Mike Barrowman  •  David Berkoff  •  Steve Bigelow  •  Matt Biondi  •  Matt Cetlinski  •  Troy Dalbey  •  Mark Dean  •  Doug Gjertsen  •  Chris Jacobs  •  Tom Jager  •  Shaun Jordan  •  Dan Jorgensen  •  Lars Jorgensen  •  Jeff Kostoff  •  Brett Lang  •  Jay Mortenson  •  Craig Oppel  •  Rich Schroeder  •  Kirk Stackle  •  Bill Stapleton  •  Melvin Stewart  •  Dan Veatch  •  Daniel Watters  •  Dave Wharton Women's Team Beth Barr  •  Tami Bruce  •  Janet Evans  •  Leigh Ann Fetter  •  Erika Hansen  •  Andrea Hayes  •  Whitney Hedgepeth  •  Janel Jorgensen  •  Mitzi Kremer  •  Susan Lipscomb  •  Tracey McFarlane  •  Mary T. Meagher  •  Betsy Mitchell  •  Trina Radke  •  Susan Rapp  •  Jill Sterkel  •  Dara Torres  •  Laura Walker  •  Mary Wayte  •  Paige Zemina Coaches Steve Bultman  •  Dick Hannula (manager)  •  Mitch Ivey  •  Frank Keefe  •  Skip Kenney  •  Richard Quick  •  Eddie Reese  •  Randy Reese  •  Mark Schubert

1992 USA Olympic Swimming Team Men's Team Mike Barrowman  •  David Berkoff  •  Matt Biondi  •  Greg Burgess  •  Hans Dersch  •  Nelson Diebel  •  Lawrence Frostad  •  Doug Gjertsen  •  Joe Hudepohl  •  Scott Jaffe  •  Tom Jager  •  Shaun Jordan  •  Dan Jorgensen  •  Ron Karnaugh  •  Sean Killion  •  Pablo Morales  •  Eric Namesnik  •  Jon Olsen  •  Jeff Rouse  •  Roque Santos  •  Tripp Schwenk  •  Royce Sharp  •  Melvin Stewart  •  Joel Thomas  •  Dave Wharton Women's Team Crissy Ahmann-Leighton  •  Janet Evans  •  Nicole Haislett  •  Erika Hansen  •  Jill Johnson  •  Megan Kleine  •  Lea Loveless  •  Angel Martino  •  Anita Nall  •  Summer Sanders  •  Ashley Tappin  •  Jenny Thompson  •  Dara Torres  •  Janie Wagstaff  •  Angie Wester-Krieg Coaches Mike Hastings  •  Richard Quick  •  Eddie Reese  •  Mark Schubert  •  Richard Shoulberg  •  Nort Thornton  •  Jon Urbanchek

1996 USA Olympic Swimming Team Men's Team Ryan Berube  •  Brad Bridgewater  •  Carlton Bruner  •  Greg Burgess  •  Ray Carey  •  Josh Davis  •  Tom Dolan  •  David Fox  •  Kurt Grote  •  Gary Hall, Jr.  •  John Hargis  •  Mark Henderson  •  Joe Hudepohl  •  Jeremy Linn  •  Tom Malchow  •  Eric Namesnik  •  Jon Olsen  •  John Piersma  •  Jeff Rouse  •  Brad Schumacher  •  Tripp Schwenk  •  Scott Tucker  •  Peter Wright  •  Eric Wunderlich Women's Team Amanda Beard  •  Brooke Bennett  •  Beth Botsford  •  Janet Evans  •  Catherine Fox  •  Whitney Hedgepeth  •  Trina Jackson  •  Lisa Jacob  •  Angel Martino  •  Whitney Metzler  •  Kristine Quance  •  Annette Salmeen  •  Jilen Siroky  •  Sheila Taormina  •  Cristina Teuscher  •  Jenny Thompson  •  Melanie Valerio  •  Amy Van Dyken  •  Allison Wagner  •  Ashley Whitney Coaches  Skip Kenney  •  David Marsh  •  Richard Quick  •  Eddie Reese  •  Mark Schubert  •  Jonty Skinner  •  Murray Stephens  •  Gregg Troy  •  Jon Urbanchek