Amy Van Dyken
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Full name | Amy Deloris Van Dyken-Rouen[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National team | United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Englewood, Colorado | February 15, 1973||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 163 lb (74 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Strokes | Butterfly, freestyle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
College team | University of Arizona Colorado State University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coach | Jonty Skinner and John Mattos | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Amy Deloris Van Dyken-Rouen (born February 15, 1973) is an American former competitive swimmer, Olympic champion, former world record-holder, and national radio sports talk show co-host. She won six Olympic gold medals in her career, four of which she won at the 1996 Summer Olympics, making her the first American woman to accomplish such a feat and the most successful athlete at the 1996 Summer Olympics. She won gold in the 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter butterfly, 4×100-meter freestyle relay, and 4×100-meter medley relay.
Van Dyken had severe asthma throughout her childhood and into adulthood. She began swimming on the advice of a doctor as a way to strengthen her lungs to cope with her condition and prevent future asthma attacks.
She was named Swimming World's American Swimmer of the Year in 1995 and 1996.
On June 6, 2014, Van Dyken was injured in a serious ATV accident that severed her spinal cord, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down.
Early life
At the 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials, Van Dyken placed 4th in the 50-meter freestyle, just missing the Olympic team. After high school, Van Dyken attended the University of Arizona for two years before transferring to Colorado State University, where she broke her first (of many more to come) United States record with a time of 21.77 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle at the NCAA championships in 1994. She also placed second in the 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard freestyle to Olympian Jenny Thompson. In 1994 she was named the NCAA Female Swimmer of the Year. After college, she moved to the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to train full-time for the 1996 Olympics.
Olympic competition
1996 Summer Olympics
At the
Van Dyken was also featured as one of
2000 Summer Olympics
Van Dyken continued to compete after the 1996 Olympics, but was plagued by injury, including a shoulder injury which required several operations and which left her unable to train for over a year. She staged a comeback, however, and made the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team in the 50-meter freestyle, the 4×100 medley relay and the 4×100 freestyle relay. At the
Van Dyken has the distinction of being one of the few Olympians whose medals are all gold.[citation needed]
Van Dyken lost public support when she spat in the lane of rival Inge de Bruijn at the 2000 Summer Olympics. After losing to de Bruijn, Van Dyken responded by saying she, too, could have won a gold medal "if I were a man."[3]
Life after swimming
This section of a poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. )Find sources: "Amy Van Dyken" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2020) |
Van Dyken retired from swimming after the 2000 Olympics and married former
After retiring from swimming, Van Dyken announced that she was going to compete in triathlon. In 2001, Van Dyken finished a one-third-mile swim, 15.2-mile bike ride and 3.1-mile run Sunday in two hours, 10.5 seconds in the Saturn Triathlon in Monument, Colo., to place 28th among 34 women in the 25-to-29 age group.[4] On August 9, 2001, Van Dyken completed the Danskin Women's Triathlon in Denver with a time of 1:38:11, 109 out of 349 in the female 25-29 age group.[5]
In 2003, Van Dyken was called to testify before a grand jury regarding the
Since her retirement, Van Dyken has toured on a number of speaking engagements to groups as varied as schools and multi-national corporations, has been a disc jockey on a sports radio show in Arizona, served as the side-line reporter for the
Van Dyken became the morning co-host at the #1 Ranked Mix 96.9 KMXP-FM in Phoenix, Arizona in July 2008 where she joined host Chris Parker. Eventually she and Parker moved over to rival KPKX-FM where she was morning drive-time host on 98.7 The Peak FM as a part of "Chris and Amy in the Morning" from 2010 to 2011. She resigned from 98.7 The Peak FM on July 12, 2011, to "attend to some family issues that are going to take her back to Denver."[8] She was the co-host of Fox Sports Radio's Fox Sports Tonight with Rob Dibble[9] until December 2013.[10]
ATV accident
On June 6, 2014, Van Dyken was in a serious ATV accident and severed her spinal cord at the T11 vertebra. She was conscious when rescued and airlifted to a hospital where she had emergency surgery to stabilize her spinal cord and vertebral column. The injury to the area came within millimeters of impacting and potentially rupturing her aorta. However, the accident left her paralyzed from the waist down.[11]
After two months of rehabilitation, Van Dyken left Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colorado, saying, "I'm a better person than before the injury,"[12] and with the help of a walker and an apparent bionic device that aids her legs, took her first steps.[13]
See also
- List of multiple Olympic gold medalists
- List of multiple Olympic gold medalists at a single Games
- List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)
- List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (women)
- World record progression 50 metres butterfly
- World record progression 4 × 100 metres freestyle relay
References
- ^ Jhabvala, Nicki (May 2015). "DEFYING THE ODDS How Greg Roskopf, an Englewood-based muscle function specialist, is helping Amy Van Dyken-Rouen get back on her feet – literally". Denver Post. Retrieved June 26, 2015.
- ^ "Amy Van Dyken elected to Olympic HOF". CBS Sports. April 16, 2008. Archived from the original on June 22, 2015.
- ^ "FLASH! Amy Van Dyken Linked to THG Drug Probe". Swimming World Magazine. November 27, 2003. Archived from the original on February 13, 2012. Retrieved January 11, 2009.
- ^ "Olympic champion van Dyken finds new challenge in triathlon". July 10, 2001.
- ^ "Athlinks".
- ^ "BALCO investigation timeline". USA Today. November 27, 2007. Retrieved January 11, 2009.
- ^ Nightengale, Bob (July 8, 2007). "After BALCO, Conte still in the supplement game". USA Today. Retrieved January 11, 2009.
- ^ "W just announced..." Chris and Amy in the Morning Facebook page. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
- ^ "About Fox Sports Tonight". Fox Sports Radio. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
- ^ "Fox Sports Radio 2014 Lineup Released". All Access. Retrieved December 18, 2013.
- ^ Marshall, John (June 9, 2014). "Olympic star Van Dyken severs spinal cord in crash". SFGate.com. Associated Press. Archived from the original on June 11, 2014. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
- ^ "Amy Van Dyken-Rouen discharged from Craig Hospital". KDVR.com. August 14, 2014. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
- ^ "Paralyzed swimmer Amy Van Dyken-Rouen takes first steps since accident". USA Today. August 21, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
External links
- Amy Van Dyken at World Aquatics
- Amy Van Dyken (USA) – Honor Swimmer profile at International Swimming Hall of Fame at the Wayback Machine (archived August 19, 2016)
- Amy Van Dyken at the Team USA Hall of Fame (archive July 20, 2023)
- Amy Van Dyken at Olympics.com
- Amy Van Dyken at Olympedia
- Amy Van Dyken Foundation at the Wayback Machine (archived August 13, 2016)
- Amy Van Dyken – Colorado Encyclopedia