Country: USA
Honoree Type: Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (100m butterfly, 4×100m
medley, 4 x 200m freestyle relay); 2016 OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4 × 100m
medley relay), silver (4 x 100m freestyle relay), bronze (100m butterfly); 2004
OLYMPIC GAMES: gold (4 × 200m freestyle relay); 2011 LONG COURSE
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (100m butterfly, 4 × 100m medley) silver (4 x
100m freestyle relay); 2007: gold (4 × 200m freestyle relay), silver (4 x 100m
freestyle relay, 4 × 100m medley relay); 2013: gold (4 × 100m medley relay),
bronze (100m butterfly); 2009: silver (4 × 200m freestyle relay), bronze (200m
freestyle); 2004 SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: gold (4 × 100m
freestyle relay, 4 x 200m freestyle relay), bronze (100m butterfly); 2010: silver (4
× 100m freestyle relay, 4 x 100m medley relay), bronze (100m butterfly);
The scene was the 2000 United States Olympic Trials and a 12-year-old girl walked
the deck of the venerable Indiana University Natatorium with the biggest names of
the sport. At the time, Dana Vollmer was a young phenom, gathering valuable
experience for the future, and a career that would go down as sensational.
A multi-event talent in freestyle and butterfly, Vollmer’s big breakthrough arrived in
2004, when she qualified to represent the United States at the 2004 Olympic
Games in Athens. In the home of the Olympics, Vollmer helped the United States
capture the gold medal in the 800-meter freestyle relay, a world record making the
victory that much sweeter.
After representing the U.S. in additional international competition over the next few
years, Vollmer failed to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. It was a
tough blow for Vollmer, but it hardly deterred her career. She immediately bounced
back and embarked on the most-successful stint of her career.
At the 2009 World Championships in Rome, Vollmer was the bronze medalist in the
200 freestyle and contributed to the United States’ silver medal 800 freestyle relay.
By the next World Championships in 2011 in Shanghai, Vollmer was the world
champion in the 100 butterfly and a key cog on multiple American relays.
The stage was set for Vollmer to excel at the 2012 Olympics in London.
Eight years after making her Olympic debut, Vollmer was a triple gold medalist in
London, as she helped the U.S. to titles in the 400 freestyle relay and 400 medley
relay. Her shining moment arrived in the 100 butterfly, where Vollmer struck gold
with a world-record time of 55.98. The effort made her the first woman to break
the 56-second barrier in the event.
“Coming back from 2008, I didn’t know if I was going to swim,” Vollmer said at the
time. “I had worked for so many years to reach that one goal, but along the way I had a shoulder injury, a back injury, and I was having to deal with fatigue and so
much pressure that I just wasn’t having fun with it at all…The past eight years,
there were good times and there were bad times. I feel like it all finally paid off.”
Vollmer followed her Olympic crown with a bronze medal at the 2013 World
Champs and made her third Olympic appearance at the 2016 Games. In Rio de
Janeiro, Vollmer once again delivered on the big stage, securing the bronze medal.
She added a gold medal in the 400 medley relay and a silver medal in the 400
freestyle relay.
Vollmer retired in 2019 as a seven-time Olympic medalist, 10-time medalist at the
World Championships and with 35 medals earned in international competition. Yet
with all those accolades, the one title she’s most proud of is she the only “Mother”
in the sport of swimming to win an Olympic gold medal.