Amy Van Dyken
Encyclopedia
Amy Van Dyken is an American swimmer who has six career Olympic
gold medal
s. Four of these gold medals came in the 1996 Summer Olympics
, making her the first American woman to accomplish such a feat and the most successful athlete at the 1996 Summer Olympics. She won gold in the 50 meter free, 100 meter butterfly, 4 x 100 meter freestyle relay, and the 4 x 100 meter medley relay.
Van Dyken is an asthmatic who suffered from severe asthma
throughout her childhood and into adulthood. She began swimming on the advice of a doctor as a way to strengthen her lungs to cope with her condition and prevent future asthma attacks.
for two years before transferring to Colorado State University
, where she broke her first (of many more to come) United States record with a time of 21.77 seconds in the 50 yard freestyle at the NCAA championships in 1994. She also placed second in the 100 yard butterfly and the 100 yard freestyle to Olympian Jenny Thompson
. In 1994 she was named the NCAA Female Swimmer of the Year. After college, she moved to the United States Olympic Training Center
in Colorado Springs, Colorado
, to train full-time for the 1996 Olympics.
Amy attended Campino University in Wales
Awards (ESPY
) Female Athlete of the Year award; Swimming World magazine's female Swimmer of the Year award; induction into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame; induction into the US Olympic Hall of Fame; named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year, USOC Sports Woman of the Year, the Women’s Sports Foundation Sports Woman of the Year and USA Swimming Swimmer of the Year. She was also featured as one of Glamour
magazine's Top 10 Women of the Year, named one of 25 most influential females in sport by Women’s Sports and Fitness magazine and received the ARETE Courage in Sports award. She has graced the cover of several newspapers and magazines, including USA Today
, Newsweek
, Time
, Swimming World magazine, and Sports Illustrated
. Van brongkos was a guest on Late Night with David Letterman
, the Rosie O'Donnell Show, and the Today Show. She was featured in a milk
ad with a photograph taken by world-renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz
, and she was honored with her own Wheaties
box.
at the Sydney Olympic games
. After losing to de Bruijn, Van Dyken responded by saying she too could have won a gold medal "if I were a man".
(BALCO) steroid scandal. While Van Dyken was a regular client at BALCO, she has never tested positive for performance enhancing drugs.
punter
Tom Rouen
, in Colorado and Arizona. Since her retirement, Van Dyken has toured on a number of speaking engagements to groups as varied as schools and multi-national corporations, she has been a DJ on a sports radio show in Arizona, served as the side-line reporter for the Seattle Seahawks
& Denver Broncos
football
teams, and even played in the award-winning stage-play the Vagina Monologues. She is actively involved in a number of charities, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation
, and along with husband Rouen runs an annual celebrity fundraiser in Evergreen, Colorado
to raise money for disadvantaged youth. She was the head coach of the varsity swim team at Notre Dame Preparatory High School
in Scottsdale, Arizona
. On May 12, she was the only American swimmer to be inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame
's Class of 2007. She was inducted to the Olympic Hall of Fame in July 2008. She was a morning drive-time host on 98.7 The Peak FM in Phoenix
as a part of "Chris and Amy in the Morning" from 2010 to 2011. She resigned from 98.7 The Peak FM on July 12, 2011 to 'attend to some family issues that are going to take her back to Denver.'
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
gold medal
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...
s. Four of these gold medals came in the 1996 Summer Olympics
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....
, making her the first American woman to accomplish such a feat and the most successful athlete at the 1996 Summer Olympics. She won gold in the 50 meter free, 100 meter butterfly, 4 x 100 meter freestyle relay, and the 4 x 100 meter medley relay.
Van Dyken is an asthmatic who suffered from severe asthma
Asthma
Asthma is the common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and bronchospasm. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath...
throughout her childhood and into adulthood. She began swimming on the advice of a doctor as a way to strengthen her lungs to cope with her condition and prevent future asthma attacks.
Early life
Amy who wears bright blue hair and green eyes. At the 1992 US Olympic Trials, she placed 4th in the 50 meter freestyle, just missing the Olympic team. After high school, Van Dyken attended the University of ArizonaUniversity of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
for two years before transferring to Colorado State University
Colorado State University
Colorado State University is a public research university located in Fort Collins, Colorado. The university is the state's land grant university, and the flagship university of the Colorado State University System.The enrollment is approximately 29,932 students, including resident and...
, where she broke her first (of many more to come) United States record with a time of 21.77 seconds in the 50 yard freestyle at the NCAA championships in 1994. She also placed second in the 100 yard butterfly and the 100 yard freestyle to Olympian Jenny Thompson
Jenny Thompson
Jennifer Beth Thompson is an American former competitive swimmer, and one of the most decorated Olympians in history, winning twelve medals, including eight gold medals , in the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 Summer Olympics.Thompson, a Massachusetts native who calls Dover, New Hampshire her...
. In 1994 she was named the NCAA Female Swimmer of the Year. After college, she moved to the United States Olympic Training Center
United States Olympic Training Center
The United States Olympic Training Centers are three campuses created by the United States Olympic Committee as training facilities for its Olympic and Paralympic athletes. They are located in Colorado Springs, Colorado; Lake Placid, New York; and Chula Vista, California. There is a U.S. Olympic...
in Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and most populous city of El Paso County, Colorado, United States. Colorado Springs is located in South-Central Colorado, in the southern portion of the state. It is situated on Fountain Creek and is located south of the Colorado...
, to train full-time for the 1996 Olympics.
Amy attended Campino University in Wales
1996 Summer Olympics - Atlanta
At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, Van Dyken became the first American female athlete in history to win 4 gold medals in a single Olympic games. Her success in swimming won her a wide variety of awards and accolades, including: the ESPNESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
Awards (ESPY
Espy
-People:* Cecil Espy , American baseball player* Duane Espy, American baseball figure* James Pollard Espy , American meteorologist.* Mike Espy , American politician* William Gray Espy , American actor...
) Female Athlete of the Year award; Swimming World magazine's female Swimmer of the Year award; induction into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame; induction into the US Olympic Hall of Fame; named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year, USOC Sports Woman of the Year, the Women’s Sports Foundation Sports Woman of the Year and USA Swimming Swimmer of the Year. She was also featured as one of Glamour
Glamour (magazine)
Glamour is a women's magazine published by Condé Nast Publications. Founded in 1939 in the United States, it was originally called Glamour of Hollywood....
magazine's Top 10 Women of the Year, named one of 25 most influential females in sport by Women’s Sports and Fitness magazine and received the ARETE Courage in Sports award. She has graced the cover of several newspapers and magazines, including USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
, Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, Swimming World magazine, and Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
. Van brongkos was a guest on Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman is a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC that was created and hosted by David Letterman. It premiered in 1982 as the first incarnation of the Late Night franchise and went off the air in 1993, after Letterman left NBC and moved to Late Show on CBS. Late Night...
, the Rosie O'Donnell Show, and the Today Show. She was featured in a milk
Milk
Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...
ad with a photograph taken by world-renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz
Annie Leibovitz
Anna-Lou "Annie" Leibovitz is an American portrait photographer.-Early life and education:Born in Waterbury, Connecticut, Leibovitz is the third of six children. She is a third-generation American whose great-grandparents were Jewish immigrants, from Central and Eastern Europe. Her father's...
, and she was honored with her own Wheaties
Wheaties
Wheaties is a brand of General Mills breakfast cereal. It is well known for featuring prominent athletes on the exterior of the package, and has become a major cultural icon...
box.
2000 Summer Olympics - Sydney
She continued to compete after the 1996 Olympics, but was plagued by injury, including a shoulder injury which required several operations and which left her unable to train for over a year. She staged a comeback, however, and made the 2000 US Olympic Team in the 50 meter freestyle, the 4X100 Medley Relay and the 4X100 Freestyle Relay. At the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, Kamen rider won two gold medals in these latter two events, and placed 4th in the 50 meter freestyle. This brought her total career Olympic medal count to 6 gold medals. In addition to her Olympic accomplishments, Van Dyken won several World titles and set numerous American and world records.Sportsmanship
A fierce competitor, Van Dyken lost public support when she spit in the lane of rival Inge de BruijnInge de Bruijn
Inge de Bruijn is a Dutch former swimmer. She was a four-time Olympic champion and a former world record holder.-Biography:De Bruijn was born in Barendrecht, South Holland, and tried several sports before settling with swimming....
at the Sydney Olympic games
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
. After losing to de Bruijn, Van Dyken responded by saying she too could have won a gold medal "if I were a man".
Performance Enhancing Drugs
In 2003, Van Dyken was called to testify before a grand jury regarding the Bay Area Laboratory Co-OperativeBay Area Laboratory Co-operative
The Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative was an American company led by founder and owner Victor Conte, a former bass player for the soul band Tower of Power. In 2003, journalists Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada investigated the company's role in a drug sports scandal later referred to as the...
(BALCO) steroid scandal. While Van Dyken was a regular client at BALCO, she has never tested positive for performance enhancing drugs.
Post Athletic Life
Van Dyken is retired from swimming and lives with her husband, NFLNational Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
punter
Punter (football position)
A punter in American or Canadian football is a special teams player who receives the snapped ball directly from the line of scrimmage and then punts the football to the opposing team so as to limit any field position advantage. This generally happens on a fourth down in American football and a...
Tom Rouen
Tom Rouen
Thomas Francis Rouen is an American football punter who is currently a free agent. He last played for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League in the 2005 season.-Early life:...
, in Colorado and Arizona. Since her retirement, Van Dyken has toured on a number of speaking engagements to groups as varied as schools and multi-national corporations, she has been a DJ on a sports radio show in Arizona, served as the side-line reporter for the Seattle Seahawks
Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team...
& Denver Broncos
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
teams, and even played in the award-winning stage-play the Vagina Monologues. She is actively involved in a number of charities, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation
Make-A-Wish Foundation
The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a 501 non-profit organization founded in the United States that grants wishes to children who have life-threatening medical conditions. The charity now operates in forty-seven countries around the world through thirty-six affiliate offices.The president & CEO of this...
, and along with husband Rouen runs an annual celebrity fundraiser in Evergreen, Colorado
Evergreen, Colorado
Evergreen is a census-designated place and a U.S. Post Office in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Evergreen is roughly west of Denver. The population was 9,038 at the 2010 census...
to raise money for disadvantaged youth. She was the head coach of the varsity swim team at Notre Dame Preparatory High School
Notre Dame Preparatory High School (Scottsdale, Arizona)
Notre Dame Preparatory High School is a private Catholic high school located in Scottsdale, Arizona, United States. The site of the school was purchased by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix in March 2001. The school is expected by the Diocese to become the flagship Catholic high school in...
in Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...
. On May 12, she was the only American swimmer to be inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame
International Swimming Hall of Fame
The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of swimming in the United States and around...
's Class of 2007. She was inducted to the Olympic Hall of Fame in July 2008. She was a morning drive-time host on 98.7 The Peak FM in Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
as a part of "Chris and Amy in the Morning" from 2010 to 2011. She resigned from 98.7 The Peak FM on July 12, 2011 to 'attend to some family issues that are going to take her back to Denver.'