29 Facts About Rebecca Soni

Rebecca Soni was born on March 18,1987 and is an American former competition swimmer and breaststroke specialist who is a six-time Olympic medalist.

Rebecca Soni is a former world record-holder in the 100-meter breaststroke and the 200-meter breaststroke, and is the first woman to swim the 200-meter breaststroke in under 2 minutes 20 seconds.

Four years later at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Rebecca Soni successfully defended her Olympic title in the 200-meter breaststroke in world record time, becoming the first woman to do so in the event.

Rebecca Soni was named Swimming World's World Swimmer of the Year award in 2010 and 2011, and the American Swimmer of the Year award in 2009,2010 and 2011.

Rebecca Soni was born in Freehold, New Jersey, US Her father Peter is of Hungarian-Jewish descent; he and his family emigrated from Cluj-Napoca, Transilvania, from which their families had been deported during World War II.

Rebecca Soni is a 2005 graduate of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North in Plainsboro Township, New Jersey.

Rebecca Soni held many school records and leads the school and state in many swimming strokes.

At USC, Rebecca Soni was a six-time NCAA Champion, having won the 200-yard breaststroke in 2006 through 2009 and the 100-yard breaststroke in 2008 and 2009.

At the 2006 World Short Course Championships, Rebecca Soni finished in 4th place in the 200-meter breaststroke.

Just a few weeks before the 2006 National Championships, Rebecca Soni underwent a procedure called radiofrequency ablation to help regulate her heartbeat.

At the 2006 National Championships, the selection meet for the 2006 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships and the 2007 World Aquatics Championships, Rebecca Soni finished tenth overall in both the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke.

At the 2008 US Olympic Team Trials, Rebecca Soni competed in two events, the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke.

However, after second-place finisher Jessica Hardy withdrew from the team due to a doping violation and third-place finisher Tara Kirk missed the entry deadline, Rebecca Soni was chosen to swim the event.

Rebecca Soni earned her berth by being the swimmer already on the team with the fastest time in the event since January 1,2006.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Rebecca Soni won a silver medal in the 100-meter breaststroke, finishing behind world record holder Leisel Jones of Australia 1:06.73 to 1:05.17.

Rebecca Soni had the second best split time in the field behind Jones.

At the 2009 National Championships Rebecca Soni competed in two events, the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke.

At the 2009 World Aquatics Championships, held in Rome, Rebecca Soni set a meet record in the heats of the 100-meter breaststroke, with a time of 1:05.66.

Rebecca Soni then competed at the 2009 Duel in the Pool, a short course meet held in December at Manchester.

At the 2010 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, Rebecca Soni won a total of three gold medals.

Rebecca Soni's time was the fastest ever recorded in a textile swimsuit.

Rebecca Soni swept all the breaststroke events and individually set four championship records.

Rebecca Soni won her first gold medal in the 100-meter breaststroke.

Rebecca Soni's winning time was over a second ahead of second-place finisher Leisel Jones.

Swimming the breaststroke leg, Rebecca Soni had a split of 1:04.71.

At the year's end, Rebecca Soni was named the World Swimmer of the Year and American Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World, and defended her titles from 2010.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Rebecca Soni won her inaugural medal, a silver, in the 100-meter breaststroke, finishing 0.08 seconds behind 15-year-old Lithuanian Ruta Meilutyte and repeating her result from the 2008 Olympics.

Rebecca Soni took the year off to recover from a back injury, but returned to the 2013 World Aquatics Championships as a spectator.

On October 9,2021, Rebecca Soni was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.