Natalie Coughlin aka Natalie biography

Natalie Anne Coughlin (born August 23, 1982 in Vallejo, California) is a American swimmer and represented the United States at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, she won two gold medals, two silver medals, and a bronze. She is known for her dominance in a short course pool and unmatched underwater kicking ability. She currently holds American and US Open records in eight different events in a short course yards pool.

Coughlin is originally from Concord, California and is of Filipino and Irish heritage. As of April 2008, she is engaged to Crow Canyon Sharks coach Ethan Hall; they are planning an April 2009 wedding.("Coughlin Overcomes Fear in Individual Medley". Retrieved on 2008-07-15.)

Prior to the 2004 Olympics, she was a student-athlete at Carondelet High School in Concord CA, Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California, then later at the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a BA in psychology in 2005. She had won twelve National Collegiate Athletic Association Swimmer of the Year honors in her first three years at the university.

Coughlin won the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in the women's 100 meter backstroke event and was a member of the silver medal women's 4 x 100 meter freestyle relay with Kara Lynn Joyce, Amanda Weir, and Jenny Thompson. She also broke a world record and won gold as a member of the 4 x 200 meter freestyle relay. Her lead-off split on the relay would have won gold in the individual 200 meter freestyle event.

Coughlin worked as an in-studio host for MSNBC during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.