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Jenny Thompson

The Olympic Games or Olympics is an international multi-sport event taking place every four years which comprises of summer and winter games. Though the first ancient games were held in 776 B.C, the modern games started from 1896. The unity of the 5 continents is shown on the Olympic flag by five colorful intertwined rings of red, blue, green, yellow, and black, created by Baron Pierre de Coubertin to represent at least one color of the participating country’s national flag.

Jennifer Elisabeth Thompson was born on February 26, 1973 and is a former swimmer, and one of the most decorated Olympians in history, winning twelve medals, including eight golds, while representing the United States of America in the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 Summer Olympics.

Thompson began swimming for the Seacoast Swimming Association under Coach Mike Parratto. She first appeared on the international scene as a 14 year old in 1987, when she won the 50 meter freestyle and placed third in the 100 meter freestyle at the Pan American Games. She won her first world championship in 1991, as part of the USA's winning 4 by 100 meter freestyle relay team, and held the world record in the 50 meter and 100 meter freestyle when she participated in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

Between 1997 and 1999, Thompson won eight more world championship titles, including three in a row in the 100 meter freestyle, and went to the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia hoping to lastly win that intangible individual gold medal. At the World Championships that year, she broke the world record in the 100 meter butterfly for the fourth time, winning a qualifying heat in a time of 56.56 en route to a gold medal in the event.

Jenny Thompson apparently retired from competition after the 2000 season with 10 Olympic medals, eight gold medals, silver and one bronze, and 12 gold medals at World Championships. At the 2004 Olympics at age 31, she was the anchor member of the 400 meter freestyle relay; she helped set a national record of 3:36.39. However she lost the lead her teammates had built and finished with a silver medal. She gained another silver medal as a member of the 400 meter medley relay, as she would lose another lead that her teammates would give her during the butterfly leg.

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