Summer Sanders

Summer Sanders

Personal information
Full name	Summer Elisabeth Sanders
Nationality	United States
Born	(1972-10-13) October 13, 1972 Roseville, California
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight	126 lb (57 kg)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Stroke(s)	Butterfly, individual medley
Club	California Capital Aquatics
College team	Stanford University
Medal record Women's swimming Competitor for  United States Olympic Games Gold 1992 Barcelona 200 m butterfly Gold 1992 Barcelona 4x100 m medley Silver 1992 Barcelona 200 m medley Bronze 1992 Barcelona 400 m medley World Championships (LC) Gold 1991 Perth 200 m butterfly Silver 1991 Perth 200 m medley Bronze 1991 Perth 400 m medley Pan Pacific Championships Gold 1991 Edmonton 200 m butterfly Gold 1991 Edmonton 200 m medley Gold 1991 Edmonton 400 m medley Silver 1989 Tokyo 200 m medley

Summer Elisabeth Sanders (born October 13, 1972) is an American former competition swimmer and Olympic champion. Sanders now works as a sports commentator, reporter, television show host and actress.

Early life

Sanders was born in Roseville, California and attended Cavitt Junior High School (just outside Roseville) and Oakmont High School there.

On Saturday, June 9, 2007, Sanders' childhood home was destroyed by a fire.^[1]

Swimming career

By age three, Sanders could swim a lap of the pool. She wanted to be just like her older brother Trevor, so in 1976 she joined the Sugar Bears – an age-group swimming program in Roseville, California, coached by Mike Barsotti, Scott Winter and Scott O’Conner. From there she jumped to the Sierra Aquatic Club with coach Ralph Thomas, and finally to CCA under coach Mike Hastings.

At age 15, Sanders drew real attention from the swimming world when she barely missed earning a spot on the 1988 Olympic Team, finishing third in the 400 IM. In her first international meet she won a silver medal in the 200 IM behind Lin Li of China at the 1989 Pan Pacific Championships. At the 1991 Pan Pacific Championships, she won 400 IM (beating Lin Li) and the 200m butterfly.

In 1991, Sanders enrolled at Stanford University to swim under Hall of Fame coach Richard Quick. In her two-year collegiate swimming career, Sanders won eight NCAA National Championship titles, including the 200 butterfly, 200 IM and 400 IM and the 4x100 medley relay. She won back-to-back NCAA Swimmer of the Year titles and helped her Cardinal team win the 1992 NCAA National Championships.

Sanders won three medals at the 1991 World Championships in Perth, Australia, taking gold in the 200 Fly, silver in the 200 IM and bronze in the 400 IM. She then became the first U.S. woman since Hall of Famer Shirley Babashoff (1976) to qualify for four individual events at one Olympiad at the 1992 Olympic Trials.

At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, Sanders won four Olympic medals -- gold in the 200-meter butterfly with an Olympic record time of 2:08.67, gold in the 400-meter medley relay, silver in the 200-meter individual medley, and a bronze medal in the 400-meter individual medley.^[2]

Notable Achievements^[3]

• 1992 Olympic Games: gold (200m butterfly), gold (4x100m medley relay – preliminary heat), silver (200m IM), bronze (400m IM), 6th (100m butterfly)
• 1991 World Championships: gold (200m butterfly), silver (200m IM), bronze (400m IM)
• 8 United States National Championships: 2-100y butterfly, 2-200y butterfly, 1-200y IM, 2-400y IM, 1-200m IM
• 9 NCAA National Championships: 2-200y butterfly, 2-200y IM, 2-400y IM, 1-4x50y medley relay, 1-4x100y medley relay, 1-4x100y freestyle relay
• 1991 Pan-Pacific Championships: gold (200m IM, 400m IM, 200m butterfly)
• 1989 Pan-Pacific Championships: silver (200m IM)

Television work

Sanders began working on television while still competing. In 1992 and 1994 she was a commentator for CBS Sports for the NCAA Swimming Championships, In 1996, she was a commentator for NBC's coverage of swimming at the Atlanta Olympics. She acting as an Olympic analyst and host for NBC during the 1996, 2000, 2002 and 2010 Olympic Games, being a Today Show special contributor from 2000-2004 and contributed to the network's coverage of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City as an on-site reporter. She was also the host of Scholastic at the Olympic Games on MSNBC in 2000.

Summer spent eight years co-hosting "NBA Inside Stuff" with Ahmad Rashad, being a sideline reporter for the WNBA (Lifetime, 1997–1999; NBC, 1999–2002) and a feature correspondent for NBA on NBC from 2000–2002. Covering tennis as a reporter for USA's coverage of the U.S. Open in 2000 and 2001, and co-host of CBS' coverage of "Arthur Ashe Kid's Day" at the Open from 2000 to 2006.

Sanders has appeared on a plethora of programs as correspondent, co-host, and host. Highlights include Nickelodeon named her their "commissioner" for the Nick GAS channel in 1998, after being the first female host of a Nickelodeon game show, Figure It Out (1997–1999).^[4] Co-hosting for MTV's Sandblast in 1994, hosting the syndicated series US Olympic Gold (2002–2005), Beg, Borrow & Deal (ESPN, 2003), NBA TV's Mind, Body & Spirit (2003–2004)^[4] and The Sports List (Fox Sports Net, 2004–2005).^[5] Sanders also co-hosted the Fox celebrity reality series Skating With Celebrities in 2006.

In 2009, Sanders began hosting Inside Out with Summer Sanders. The show, which is the first original production of Universal Sports, debuted on December 23, 2009, and focuses on in-depth interviews and intimate profiles of notable Olympic athletes.^[6] She also worked as a general correspondent for Good Morning America and Rachael Ray.^[4]

Sanders was also a 2010 Winter Olympics correspondent for NBC/Universal Sports,

She was on the third season of Celebrity Apprentice, along with Darryl Strawberry, Cyndi Lauper, Bret Michaels, Sharon Osbourne, Michael Johnson, Holly Robinson Peete, Bill Goldberg, Carol Leifer, Sinbad, Rod Blagojevich, Maria Kanellis, Curtis Stone and Selita Ebanks, who all competed for charity.^[7] She was the 8th one fired. Donald Trump said the reason Sanders was fired was because she did not do a decent job defending herself when in the final two.

In January 2012, she was one of eight celebrities participating in the Food Network reality series Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off.^[8]

Sanders hosted the awarding winning "Elite Athlete Workouts" on Yahoo!Sports and covered the 2012 Olympic Games in London for the news outlet. She currently works as a commentator on the new Pac-12 Network.

Other media

Sanders has appeared as an actress in two films: Jerry Maguire (1996), in which she played herself, and Broken Record (1997).

In June 1999, she published the book Champions Are Raised, Not Born: How My Parents Made Me A Success.^[9]

Sanders is the spokesperson for the ReThink Varicose Veins campaign.

Personal life

On July 4, 1997, Sanders married Olympic swimmer Mark Henderson.^[10] The couple divorced in 2001. In July 2005, she married Erik Schlopy, a World Cup skier who competed at the Torino 2006 Olympics. Their first child, a daughter named Skye Bella, was born April 21, 2006. Their second child, Robert Charles "Spider" Schlopy, was born on January 15, 2008.

Sanders has been a Right To Play advocate since 1996 and has visited several countries on their behalf.

Sanders and Schlopy are both fans of the Buffalo Bills. ^[11]

See also

• List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)
• List of Stanford University people
• List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (women)

References

External links

• SummerSanders.net - personal website
• NBA Inside Stuff – Summer Sanders
• Summer Sanders (USA) – Honor Swimmer profile at International Swimmers Hall of Fame
• Summer Sanders – Olympic athlete profile from Sports-Reference.com
• Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame Entry
• USA Today – Olympic Swimming: Summer Sanders – chat transcript
• United States Olympic Committee – Q&A with Summer Sanders – chat transcript
• Summer's U.S. Olympic Team bio
• Summer Sanders at the Internet Movie Database

v t e 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