Janet Evans
Encyclopedia
Janet Beth Evans is a American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 competitive swimmer who specializes in distance freestyle. She recently announced her comeback to the sport with intentions to swim in the 2012 Olympic Trials.

Biography

Born in Fullerton, California
Fullerton, California
Fullerton is a city located in northern Orange County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 135,161.It was founded in 1887 by George and Edward Amerige and named for George H. Fullerton, who secured the land on behalf of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway...

, Evans grew up in neighboring Placentia
Placentia, California
-Local: Placentia is a Charter city with an elected city council and professional city manager. Placentia City Council*Mayor- Scott W. Nelson*Mayor Pro Tem- Jeremy Yamaguchi*Council Member- Joe Aquirre*Council Member- Constance Underhill...

, where she started swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

 competitively as a child. By the age of 11, she was setting National Age Group records in distance events. After graduating from El Dorado High School, she attended Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

 and the University of Texas before graduating from the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

 in 1994 with a degree in communication
Communication studies
Communication Studies is an academic field that deals with processes of communication, commonly defined as the sharing of symbols over distances in space and time. Hence, communication studies encompasses a wide range of topics and contexts ranging from face-to-face conversation to speeches to mass...

.

Evans was distinctive for her unorthodox "windmill" stroke and her apparently inexhaustible cardiorespiratory reserves. Slight of build and short of stature, she more than once found herself competing and winning against bigger and stronger athletes, some of whom were subsequently found to have been using performance-enhancing drugs.

Janet Evans was the 1989 recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award
James E. Sullivan Award
The James E. Sullivan Award, presented by the American Amateur Athletic Union , is awarded annually in April to "the outstanding amateur athlete in the United States". Often referred to as the Oscar of sports awards, it was first presented in 1930. The award is named for the AAU's founder and past...

 as the top amateur athlete in the United States.

She was named the Female World Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World Magazine
Swimming World magazine
Swimming World Magazine is an American-based monthly swimming magazine, that was first published in a magazine format as Junior Swimmer in January of 1960...

in 1987, 1989, and 1990.

Since her retirement from competitive swimming, Evans has been a motivational speaker and corporate spokesperson for companies such as AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...

, Speedo
Speedo
Speedo International Ltd. is a manufacturer and distributor of swimwear and swim-related accessories. Founded in Australia in 1914, the industry leading company is now a subsidiary of Pentland Group Plc. Today, the Speedo brand can be found on products ranging from swimsuits and goggles to wrist...

, Campbell's
Campbell Soup Company
Campbell Soup Company , also known as Campbell's, is an American producer of canned soups and related products. Campbell's products are sold in 120 countries around the world. It is headquartered in Camden, New Jersey...

, PowerBar
PowerBar
PowerBar is an American maker of energy bars and other related products ....

, John Hancock
John Hancock Insurance
John Hancock Financial is a loose term for a United States insurance company which existed, in various forms, from its founding on April 21, 1862, until its acquisition in 2004 by the Canadian insurance company Manulife Financial. It was named in honor of John Hancock, a prominent patriot...

, Cadillac
Cadillac
Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...

, and Xerox
Xerox
Xerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produced and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies...

. In 2008, Evans competed on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 show Celebrity Circus
Celebrity Circus (U.S. TV series)
Celebrity Circus is an American version of the Celebrity Circus reality television show based on the Australian television series of the same name originally aired in 2005...

.

Evans has been married to Billy Wilson since 2004. In 2006 they had a daughter. She also has a one-year old son.
In 2010, Evans returned to competitive swimming in Masters swimming
Masters swimming
Masters swimming is a special class of competitive swimming for swimmers 25 years or older...

.

Career

In 1987, she broke the world records in the 400-, 800-, and 1,500-meter freestyle
Freestyle swimming
Freestyle is an unregulated swimming style used in swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. The front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle race, as this style is generally the fastest...

 events. At the 1988 Summer Olympics
1988 Summer Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an all international multi-sport events celebrated from September 17 to October 2, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since the 1964 Summer Olympics...

 in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

, she won three gold medals and earned the nickname "Miss Perpetual Motion". In the games, she set a new world record in the 400-meter freestyle event; this record would hold for 18 years until Laure Manaudou
Laure Manaudou
Laure Manaudou |Rhône]]) is a French Olympic, world and European champion swimmer. She is the daughter of a French father and a Dutch mother.- 2004 Olympics :...

 broke it in May 2006. Until June 2007, Evans held the 1,500-meter freestyle record (set in March 1988) when it was broken by Kate Ziegler
Kate Ziegler
Kate Marie Ziegler is an American long-distance swimmer. She currently holds the world record in the 1500-meter freestyle ....

 with a time of 15:42.54. Evans' world record of 8:16.22 in the 800-meter freestyle, set in August 1989, was broken in August 2008 at the Beijing Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...

 by Rebecca Adlington
Rebecca Adlington
Rebecca "Becky" Adlington, OBE, is an English and British freestyle swimmer. She won two gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games in the 400 m and 800 m, breaking the 19 year-old world record of Janet Evans in the 800 m final...

 of Great Britain with a time of 8:14.10. The 800-meter freestyle record was one of the longest standing ever in the sport of swimming, lasting through four Olympic Games. Only the 100-meter freestyle record of the Dutch swimmer Willy den Ouden
Willy den Ouden
Willemijntje "Willy" den Ouden was a freestyle swimmer from the Netherlands, who held the world record for the 100 m freestyle swimming for nearly 23 years, from 1933 to 1956....

 stood longer (1936–1956).

Following her 1988 performance, Evans continued to dominate the American and world distance scene. She became the first woman ever to win back-to-back Olympic and World Championship titles in any event, taking the 1988 and 1992 Olympic titles and the 1991 and 1994 World titles in the 800-meter freestyle.

She won the 400-meter and 800-meter freestyle at the U.S. National Championships 12 times each, the most national titles in one event by any swimmer in the 100-year history of the event.

Her career ended with 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....

 in Atlanta. She did not win a medal, but she added one more highlight to her career, when she was given the honor of carrying the Olympic Torch at the Opening Ceremony, handing the torch to U.S. Olympic boxing legend Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...

 to light the cauldron. In the pool, she finished ninth in the prelims of the 400-meter freestyle. She didn't qualify for the finals (nor the B finals), as only the top eight times advance. In the final swim of her career, Evans finished sixth in the 800-meter freestyle.

At the Atlanta Games, Evans outspokenly criticized Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

's Michelle Smith
Michelle Smith
Michelle Smith is a retired Irish swimmer and practising Irish barrister. She was a triple gold medallist at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, for the 400 m individual medley, 400 m freestyle and 200 m individual medley...

 on the latter's unexpected gold medals, suggesting that she might have been using performance enhancing drugs in the Olympics. Smith was not considered a favorite entering the Games, and her husband and coach Erik de Bruin
Erik de Bruin
Erik de Bruin is a retired Dutch discus thrower and shot putter. He held the Dutch national record in shot put from 1986 to 2005, and his 68.12 m discus throw record of April 1, 1991 still stands today....

 had failed a drug test in 1993. Indeed, from 1996–97, the International Swimming Federation (FINA) raised concerns about Smith's repeated unavailability for random out-of-competition testing, and Smith received a four-year suspension in 1998 after being found guilty of tampering with a urine sample. However, Smith's medals and records from Atlanta were allowed to stand.

At the end of her career, she held seven world records, five Olympic medals (including four gold), and 45 U.S. national titles — third only to Tracy Caulkins
Tracy Caulkins
Tracy Anne Caulkins Stockwell, OAM, is a former American college and international swimmer, a three-time Olympic gold medalist and a former world record-holder....

 and Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps
Michael Fred Phelps is an American swimmer who has, overall, won 16 Olympic medals—six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at Beijing in 2008, becoming the most successful athlete at both of these Olympic Games editions...

.

In June 2011, it was announced that Evans is in the process of a comeback and has been training for six months. Her potential goal is the 2012 Olympic Trials.

See also


External links

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