1. Janet Beth Evans was born on August 28,1971 and is an American former competition swimmer who swam from 1989 to 1992 for Stanford University and specialized in distance freestyle events.
32 Facts About Janet Evans
1. 2.
In 1987, at age 15, Janet Evans broke the world records in the 400-meter, 800-meter, and 1,500-meter freestyle distances.
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Janet Evans graduated from El Dorado High School, and when not competing or representing FAST, she swam meets and trained with El Dorado High, where she was coached by Tom Milich, a 1987 California Swimming Coach of the Year, and an American Swimming Coaches Association Distinguished Coach of the Year.
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Janet Evans attended Stanford University, where she swam for the Stanford Cardinal swimming and diving team from 1989 to 1991 under Stanford's Hall of Fame Women's Head Coach Richard Quick.
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At Stanford, Janet Evans was an All-American eight times, dominating distance events.
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Janet Evans captured all the 500 free and 1650 free events in both 1990 and 1991, and in 1990 captured a 400 IM title.
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Janet Evans took two national titles in the 800 free relay during those seasons.
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Janet Evans began training at the University of Texas at Austin the Texas Aquatic Club around 1992 under Coach Mark Schubert who helped prepare her for 1992 Olympic competition.
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Janet Evans held the 1,500-meter freestyle record, set in March 1988, through June 2007, when it was broken by American Kate Ziegler with her time of 15:42.54.
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Janet Evans held the world record in the 800-meter freestyle, 8:16:22, that she set in August 1989, until it was broken by Rebecca Adlington of Britain in August 2008.
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Janet Evans became the first woman to capture back-to-back Olympic and world championship titles in any one swimming event by winning the 1988 and 1992 Olympic gold medals and the 1991 and 1994 world championships in the 800-meter freestyle race.
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Janet Evans had held the record in the 400 since the 1988 Olympics, but her times in the event had been continually slowing.
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Janet Evans won the 400-meter and 800-meter freestyle events at the US National Championships 12 times each, the largest number of national titles in one event by an American swimmer in the 100-year history of the competition.
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Janet Evans ended her swimming career, for all practical purposes, at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.
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Janet Evans did not win any medals, but she did add one more highlight to her life.
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Janet Evans was given the honour of carrying the Olympic torch in the opening ceremony, handing it to the American boxing legend Muhammad Ali who lit the Olympic cauldron.
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In 1996 Olympic heats, Janet Evans finished ninth in the preliminaries of the 400-meter freestyle.
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Janet Evans did not qualify for the finals, as only the top eight finishers advance to the next level.
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Janet Evans later insisted that she meant no such accusation and that her remarks were taken out of context.
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In June 2011, it was reported that Janet Evans was in the process of a comeback and had been training for six months with the goal of competing at the 2012 US Olympic Trials.
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Janet Evans was the first American woman to win four individual Olympic gold medals in swimming.
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In 2010, Janet Evans returned to competitive swimming as a United States Masters swimmer.
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On November 3,2016, Janet Evans was chosen to serve as co-Grand Marshal of the 2017 Rose Parade.
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Janet Evans served as Vice Chair and Athletes director for the Los Angeles 2024 Olympic bid committee and traveled with the team to promote Los Angeles as a candidate city.
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Janet Evans was known for her unorthodox "windmill" stroke and her cardio-respiratory reserves.
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Janet Evans had a higher stroke count than many distance swimmers, taking 55 strokes per 50 meters, when other distance swimmers took closer to 40.
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Janet Evans's endurance was at least partly a product of her training.
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Janet Evans was the 1989 recipient of the James E Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States.
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Janet Evans was named the Female World Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World Magazine in 1987,1989, and 1990.
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Janet Evans was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in 2001.
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In 1995, Janet Evans was inducted into the US Olympic Hall of Fame.
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Janet Evans married Bill Willson in Long Beach in 2004, with whom she has two children.