Nicole Haislett
Encyclopedia
Nicole Lee Haislett Bacher (born December 16, 1972) is a former American college and international swimmer
who was an eight-time American national college champion and a three-time Olympic
gold medal
ist.
in 1972. She was a "water baby"—she learned to swim at 18 months old. At the time, her parents merely wanted her to be comfortable in water, not intending that swimming would become her life focus. She began to train with the St. Pete Aquatics Club at the age of 6. Haislett attended Lakewood High School
in St. Petersburg, where she swam for the Lakewood Spartans high school
swim team, winning four Florida high school championships in two years.
to attend the University of Florida
in Gainesville, Florida
, where she swam for coach Mitch Ivey and coach Chris Martin's Florida Gators swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association
(NCAA) competition from 1990 to 1994. As a Gator swimmer, she won NCAA national titles in the 200-yard freestyle
for four consecutive years from 1991 to 1994, the 200-yard individual medley in 1993, and the 500-yard freestyle in 1994, and was a member of the Gators' NCAA-winning relay teams in the 4x100-yard freestyle in 1993 and the 4x100-yard medley relay in 1994. She received twenty-eight All-American honors in four years—the maximum number possible. In four years of swimming, she was undefeated in Southeastern Conference
(SEC) competition, and was recognized as the SEC Female Swimmer of the Year for four consecutive years from 1991 to 1994, and the SEC Female Athlete of the Year (all sports) in 1993 and 1994.
She graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree
in telecommunications 1996.
in Munich, Germany; she did so at the 1990 Goodwill Games
in Seattle, Washington
. At the 1991 World Aquatics Championships
in Perth, Western Australia
, Haislett won the 100-meter freestyle, and swam the anchor legs for the winning U.S. teams in the 4x100-meter freestyle and the 4x100-meter medley
relays, ending the East German women's eighteen years of overwhelming dominance in the 100-meter freestyle at the world championships.
At the 1992 Summer Olympics
in Barcelona, Spain, Haislett won the 200-meter freestyle event for her first Olympic gold medal. She was a member of the winning U.S. team in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, together with Jenny Thompson
, Dara Torres
and Angel Martino
, which set a new world record in the event while winning the gold medal. Haislett swam the freestyle leg in the preliminaries of the 4x100-meter medley relay to earn her third Olympic gold medal. She also qualified for the 100-meter freestyle, finishing fourth in the final.
Haislett was the first American woman to swim the 200-meter freestyle in under one minute, fifty-eight seconds (1:58), and held the American record until 2003, when it was broken by Lindsay Benko
. She retired from competition swimming in 1995.
, and she formerly worked as a dining room manager and an activities director at an assisted living community for seniors. She has been married to Ricky Bacher, an executive chef, since 2003. She was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 2004, and the Florida Sports Hall of Fame
in 2005. Haislett and her husband have a daughter, Blake, who was born in 2006.
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...
who was an eight-time American national college champion and a three-time Olympic
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...
ist.
Early years
Haislett was born in St. Petersburg, FloridaSt. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
in 1972. She was a "water baby"—she learned to swim at 18 months old. At the time, her parents merely wanted her to be comfortable in water, not intending that swimming would become her life focus. She began to train with the St. Pete Aquatics Club at the age of 6. Haislett attended Lakewood High School
Lakewood High School (Florida)
Lakewood High School is a public high school in St. Petersburg, Florida operated by Pinellas County Schools. It opened in 1967 with students previously attending St. Petersburg High School and Boca Ciega High School. As of 2006, due to its 54% minority population, Lakewood High was known as one of...
in St. Petersburg, where she swam for the Lakewood Spartans high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
swim team, winning four Florida high school championships in two years.
College swimming career
After graduating from high school, Haislett received an athletic scholarshipAthletic scholarship
An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport...
to attend the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
in Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
, where she swam for coach Mitch Ivey and coach Chris Martin's Florida Gators swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
(NCAA) competition from 1990 to 1994. As a Gator swimmer, she won NCAA national titles in the 200-yard 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...
for four consecutive years from 1991 to 1994, the 200-yard individual medley in 1993, and the 500-yard freestyle in 1994, and was a member of the Gators' NCAA-winning relay teams in the 4x100-yard freestyle in 1993 and the 4x100-yard medley relay in 1994. She received twenty-eight All-American honors in four years—the maximum number possible. In four years of swimming, she was undefeated in Southeastern Conference
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
(SEC) competition, and was recognized as the SEC Female Swimmer of the Year for four consecutive years from 1991 to 1994, and the SEC Female Athlete of the Year (all sports) in 1993 and 1994.
She graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in telecommunications 1996.
International swimming career
Haislett was the first American woman to defeat a swimmer from East Germany in the 100-meter freestyle since the 1972 Summer Olympics1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....
in Munich, Germany; she did so at the 1990 Goodwill Games
Goodwill Games
The Goodwill Games was an international sports competition, created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s...
in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
. At the 1991 World Aquatics Championships
1991 World Aquatics Championships
The 1991 World Aquatics Championships took place in Perth, Australia between 3 January and 13 January 1991 with 1142 participating athletes.- Medals table :-Diving:MenWomen-Open water swimming:MenWomen-Swimming:MenWomen...
in Perth, Western Australia
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Haislett won the 100-meter freestyle, and swam the anchor legs for the winning U.S. teams in the 4x100-meter freestyle and the 4x100-meter medley
Medley swimming
Medley is a combination of four different swimming styles into one race. This race is either swum by one swimmer as individual medley or by four swimmers as a medley relay...
relays, ending the East German women's eighteen years of overwhelming dominance in the 100-meter freestyle at the world championships.
At the 1992 Summer Olympics
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...
in Barcelona, Spain, Haislett won the 200-meter freestyle event for her first Olympic gold medal. She was a member of the winning U.S. team in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, together with 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...
, Dara Torres
Dara Torres
Dara Grace Torres is an American international swimmer and a twelve-time Olympic medalist. Torres was the first swimmer from the United States to compete in five Olympic Games , and, at age 41, the oldest swimmer ever to earn a place on the U.S. Olympic team...
and Angel Martino
Angel Martino
Angelina L. Myers-Sims better known as Angel Martino is a former American swimmer. She swam in college at Furman University. Over her career, she won three relay Olympic gold medals and three Olympic bronze medals.In addition to her Olympic medals, she won twelve Pan Pacific medals, seven Goodwill...
, which set a new world record in the event while winning the gold medal. Haislett swam the freestyle leg in the preliminaries of the 4x100-meter medley relay to earn her third Olympic gold medal. She also qualified for the 100-meter freestyle, finishing fourth in the final.
Haislett was the first American woman to swim the 200-meter freestyle in under one minute, fifty-eight seconds (1:58), and held the American record until 2003, when it was broken by Lindsay Benko
Lindsay Benko
Lindsay Mintenko is a freestyle swimmer from the United States, who represented her native country at two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 2000 . There she was a member of the gold medal winning 4×200 m freestyle relay...
. She retired from competition swimming in 1995.
Life after competition swimming
Haislett served as an assistant coach for the Florida Gators women's swim team under head coach Kevin Thornton from 1996 to 1997. Afterward, she studied to be a chef at the Florida Culinary Institute in West Palm Beach, FloridaWest Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and is the most populous city in and county seat of Palm Beach County, the third most populous county in Florida with a 2010 population of 1,320,134. The city is also the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida...
, and she formerly worked as a dining room manager and an activities director at an assisted living community for seniors. She has been married to Ricky Bacher, an executive chef, since 2003. She was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 2004, and the Florida Sports Hall of Fame
Florida Sports Hall of Fame
The Florida Sports Hall of Fame is an association dedicated to honoring athletes with outstanding achievement in sports in Florida. It has expanded its goals to include encouraging physical fitness among Florida's citizens through the example of its honorees.The FSHOF was founded by the Florida...
in 2005. Haislett and her husband have a daughter, Blake, who was born in 2006.
See also
- Florida GatorsFlorida GatorsThe Florida Gators are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida. The "Lady Gators" is an alternative nickname sometimes used by the Gators women's teams...
- List of multiple Olympic gold medalists
- List of United States records in swimming
- List of University of Florida alumni
- List of University of Florida Olympians