Americans are almost ahead in every sport when it comes to the Olympics, but they are undisputed champions when it comes to swimming. The United States is home to nearly all of the greatest ever or legends of the sport swimming. Swimming is part of their culture, and parents encourage their children to take up swimming as it has chances of providing them with scholarship opportunities in good colleges. Getting to be an All-American swimmer is a matter of pride in America. Here is a list of America’s greatest swimmers of all time
1. Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps is the most celebrated and greatest swimmers of All-time not only in America but all over the world. Phelps is a ruthless record-breaker and holds the unparalleled record for the most Olympic gold medals, with a total of 23 medals overall in his Olympic career. Michael has been the most successful athlete at the last four Olympics consistently.
Michael earned Sports Illustrated magazine’s Sportsman of the Year award due to his fantastic Olympic success in the 2008 Games. He has surprisingly won more medals than 161 countries.
Phelps has an unusual streamlined physique with arms spreading longer than his actual height, relatively short legs, feet which are 14sizese enact like flippers and hypermobile ankle are better than that of a ballet dancer. He proclaimed his second retirement in 2016 after the Rio Olympics.
Phelps is the world record holder in the long course category for the 200-meter butterfly, 100-meter butterfly, and 400-meter individual medley. He has also won the World Swimmer of the Year Award seven times. Phelps has won the American Swimmer of the Year Award nine times. He has set 39 world records (29 individual, ten relays), which is more records than any other swimmer.
Phelps holds 23 Guinness World Records, which is most by an athlete. Phelps has won 23 Gold, three silver, and two bronze medals at the Olympic Games. He has captured 26 gold, 6 silver, and one bronze medals at the World Championships (LC) and one gold medal at the World Championships (SC). He has won 16 gold and five silver medals at the Pan Pacific Championships.
2. Mark Spitz
Mark Spitz is one of the greatest American swimmers to grace the game and was commonly known as “Mark the Shark,” during his top days. The American swimmer won seven gold medals in the 1972 Munich Olympic games, an extraordinary feat that has only been outdone by Michael Phelps, who won eight gold medals at the 2008 Olympics. Mark is one of the only five Olympians to have won 9 or more gold medals at the Olympics.
Spitz was named as World Swimmer of the Year in 1969, 1971, and 1972. He also set 33 world records. Spitz won seven gold medals at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, all in world record time. Spitz was enlisted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1977. Mark Spitz held the previous record of 33 world records (26 individual, seven relays).
3. Matthew Biondi
Matthew Biondi, known as the California Condor for his vast wingspan, is a legendary American swimmer and one of the most excellent American swimmers of all time. Matthew is a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
He had won just one relay gold in his debut Olympics but came to all guns blazing in his second trip in Seoul in 1988, and steamrolled over his competitors to clinch seven straight medals, 5 of which were golds, creating four new world records along the way.
Matt has captured 11 Olympic medals from three editions (8 golds, two silvers, and one bronze). He has won 6 gold, two silver and three bronze medals at the World Championships (LC). He has won 13 gold, three silver, and two bronze medals at the Pan Pacific Championships.
4. Dara Torres
Dara Torres is another swimmer in the long list of great American swimmers. She was away from the sport for seven years but then decided to make a return at the Sydney Olympics 2000, where she won a total of 5 Olympic medals. The 52-year-old was 41 when she broke the record of the oldest swimmer to win a medal at the games during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Dara also set the new fastest 100m split in the history of the relay. She has a bizarre record of winning at least one medal in each of the Olympic editions she has starred in 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000, and 2008.
Torres has won twelve Olympic medals (4 of each color – gold, silver, and bronze. She set the world record in Women’s 4×100-meter medley relay, 4×100-meter freestyle relay, and Women’s 50-meter freestyle.
5. Natalie Coughlin
Natalie Coughlin is the greatest female American Swimmers of All-time tied with Dara Torres and Jenny Thompson. Natalie became the first female swimmer to defend the 10 m backstroke title at the Olympics after her victory at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2004 Athens Olympics. Also, in 2008, she equalled the women’s Olympic record of winning the highest number of medals (6) in a single Games.
Natalie has captured a total of 12 Olympic medals,3 Gold, four silver, and five bronze medals. She has won 8 Gold, seven silver, and five bronze medal at the World Championships (LC). She has won, 2 Gold, five silver, and one bronze medal at the World Championships (SC)