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Natalie Coughlin - America's Golden Girl of Swimming is ready for Beijing

Written by Rolando Cruz
Wednesday, 31 October 2007
{mosimage} You can keep Amanda Beard and the glossy Playboy cover she appeared in. As far as Olympic swimmers go, I prefer mine with wholesome good looks, girl next door smiles, and a world record or two. So who needs Amanda when Natalie Coughlin is still swimming strong for the good ole USA? Natalie the former teen prodigy and highly decorated medallist from the 2004 Olympics is still around, still swimming strong, and still better than ever three years later. And since this year's Olympic swim team is based on the best times in competition (the US team will carry the six top performer at each distance), chances are slim to none that Coughlin will miss representing the USA at Beijing come 2008. So if I were General Mills, I would look no further for the face of the 2008 Wheaties box. All that General Mills has to do is look up Natalie's commercial for McDonald's prior to the 2004 and count the medals around her next from those Games, and they would reserve a spot for this golden girl of swimming. But I am getting ahead of myself here since there is a whole slate of races still waiting to be won. No problem. Natalie Coughlin has not exactly been taking it easy since we last saw her in Athens. Though she took some time off here and there for such things as being an in-studio host for MSNBC during the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Coughlin is still training hard, still winning competitions, and still setting records. During 2007 World Championships, Natalie took home the gold medal in the 100 meters backstroke. She added another gold medal in the relays, and just like Athens, she came home with 5 medals in all. Along the way, Coughlin broke her own world mark for the 100 meters backstroke with a time of 59.44. Her new world record was almost a full minute beneath her gold medal performance at Athens. This year, Natalie kicked off the racing season in fine fashion breaking the world record for the 100 meters backstroke (short course) at the 2007 World Cup. Later on she added a gold medal in the 100 meters butterfly despite her claims that she was still rusty from months away from competitive racing. Though the backstroke remains one of her strongest events, Natalie's showcases her all around talents by competing in most of the shorter freestyle races, as well as the 100 meters butterfly in most major meets. In the 100 meters freestyle, she became the first American to go under 54 seconds. In Beijing, look for Natalie to swim a full slate of races once again. Her schedule there will probably include the 50/100 freestyle, the 100 meters backstroke, and an assortment of relays. The end results should be one that we are familiar with, though it would be nice if the accomplishments were crowned with Natalie being featured on a box of Wheaties. After all, isn't that where the America's golden girl belongs? Set as favorite Bookmark Email This Trackback(0) TrackBack URI for this entry Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment Name Email Website Title Comment smaller \| bigger Subscribe via email (Registered users only) I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.
Last Updated ( Thursday, 01 November 2007 )