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Vietnam is known to have beautiful beaches that most tourists rave about. Sadly, these destinations are often enjoyed by most tourists only. Why? Because only a few Vietnamese people learned how to swim. While there are swimming centers in Vietnam, they are often inaccessible to most. So, to give inspiration to Vietnamese swimmers, here is our list of the top female swimmers in the world.
Amanda Beard
Amanda Ray Beard is an American swimmer with two gold medals, four silver medals, and one bronze medal she won in the Olympics. She is a previous world record holder in the 200-metre long course breaststroke, and her success made her the American Swimmer of the Year twice. Amanda won five golds, thirteen silvers, and three bronze medals in major international competitions like the Olympics, the Pan Pacific Championships, The Summer Universiade, and the World Championships.
Natalie Coughlin
Natalie Anne Coughlin Hall is another one of the top female swimmers. She boasts of twelve Olympic medals and the title of being the first woman to swim the 100-metre long course backstroke in less than one minute during her stay at the University of California, Berkeley. Natalie became the first American female swimmer in modern Olympic history to win gold in a 100-metre backstroke in two consecutive Olympics and achieve six medals in one Olympiad. She was the winner of a bronze medal in the 4 x 100-metre freestyle relay at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Her achievements of twelve medals from the Olympics ties her with Jemmy Thompson.
Esther Williams
Esther Jane Williams was an American actress and a competitive swimmer. Williams has established multiple regional and national swimming records in her teens as a member of the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team. During World War II, Esther was not able to compete in the 1940 Summer Olympics. Instead, she joined Billy Rose’s Aquacade, where she replaced Eleanor Holm with her role after the show moved to San Francisco from New York City. Williams went swimming alongside Tarzan star Johnny Weissmuller for five months. The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer noticed her at the Aquacade. She landed a list of films in the 1940s and early 1950s known as “Aquamusicals,” which showcased performances with diving and synchronised swimming.
Williams’ career in the film industry did well as she had at least one film listed as among the highest-grossing films from 1945 to 1949. She also appeared as an Australian swimming star in Million Dollar Mermaid, which became her nickname.
Charlene, Princess of Monaco
Charlene is a Zimbabwean-South African past Olympic swimmer and wife of Prince Albert II. She is the daughter of Michael and Lynette Wittstock and was born in Zimbabwe. Charlene competed for South Africa at the 2000 Sydney Olympics as her team finished a respectable fifth in the 4 x 100-metre medley relay. She retired from swimming competitions in the year 2007.
Federica Pellegrini
Federica Pellegrini is an Italian swimmer who holds a world record of women’s 200-metre long course freestyle. She is also a gold medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. With a time of three minutes and 59.15 seconds, Pellegrini became the first woman to break the four-minute barrier in the 400-metre freestyle at the 2009 World Championships in Rome. She has won eight medals in a row in the 200-metre freestyle event at the World Championships, the only swimmer – male or female – who has achieved this milestone. Pellegrini was marked as the only Italian swimmer to make world records in more than a single event and to be the first female Olympic champion.
Dara Torres
Dara Grace Torres is a 12-time Olympic medalist who holds world records in three events. As an American former competitive swimmer, she represented the United States in five Olympic Games in the years 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000, and 2008. Torres was also the oldest swimmer to join the U.S. Olympic team at the age of 41. Torres participated in the 50-metre freestyle, 4 x 100-metre freestyle relay, and 4 x 100-metre medley relay, in which she won silver medals in those events. She also has four golds, four silver, and four bronzes, a total of 12 Olympic medals, making her one of three women with the most medals in Olympic women’s swimming competitions. The other two swimmers are Natalie Coughlin and Jenny Thompson. Torres was the oldest participant of the 2000 U.S. Olympic swimming team at the age of 33, and she also owns five medals she won at the 2000 Summer Olympics. When she competed in the five Olympics, she made sure she gets to go home with a medal from each event, making her one of the best Olympians to win medals in five different games.
Stephanie Rice
A former Australian competitive swimmer, Stephanie Rice won three gold medals when she competed at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and earned the Medal of the Order of Australia on January 26, 2009. Stephanie retired from swimming competitions on April 9, 2014.
Laure Manaudou
Laure Manaudou is a former French Olympic world and European champion swimmer. She participated in three Olympics since her significant arrival in 2004. At the age of 17, Manaudou showcased her talents at the 2004 European Swimming Championships and won three gold medals in the 100-metre backstroke, 400-metre freestyle, and the 400-metre freestyle relay. She also won three medals in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. She brought home one gold, one silver, and one bronze where the gold was France’s first Olympic win in women’s swimming competition. Manaudou won a silver in the 800-metre freestyle and earned a bronze in the 100-metre backstroke. All these make her among the top female swimmers in her own right.
Manaudou won her first World Championship title in the 400-metre freestyle competition. She also added the 800-metre freestyle, the 200-metre individual medley, and the 100-metre backstroke wins to her profile. She even broke the 800-metre freestyle world record, defended her 400-metre freestyle title, earned two silver medals in the 800-metre freestyle, and the 100-metre backstroke, and made sure that France brings home bronze in the 800-metre freestyle relay in Melbourne, Australia.
Alexandra Paul
Alexandra Elizabeth Paul is an American actress, health coach, former model, and an activist. She started her career modeling in New York before her first significant casting in John Carpenter’s horror film Christine in 1983. Her career took off and followed with essential roles in American Flyers (1985), 8 Million Ways to Die (1986), and Dragnet (1987). Paul is most famous for her role as Lt. Stephanie Holden in Baywatch – a television series from 1992 to 1997.
Janet Evans
Janet Beth Evans is an American retired competitive swimmer with strength in distance freestyle events, and she holds the record at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics for taking home four gold medals. Evans was a world record-holder and a world champion enough to make her as one of our top female swimmers.
Janet Evans started swimming laps in the pool at a very young age of two years. She started breaking world records in the 400-metre, 800-metre, and 1,500-metre freestyle events in the year 1987, and she was only 15 years old.
Female Swimmers Ruling the Water
These are some of the top female swimmers in the world that contains the most prominent and top females known for their impressive career. There are thousands of good female swimmers around the world with so many achievements in competitions. May this give an inspiration to all aspiring swimmers to work harder to become the best that they can be.
Check out our list of Top Male Swimmers to Inspire You
