Natalie Coughlin
Even though Coughlin isn’t regarded as the greatest female swimmer ever, she would certainly have a good argument. In Athens in 2004, Coughlin won gold and silver in the 100 m backstroke and in the 4×100 freestyle relay respectively. Four years later, she became the first American woman in modern history to capture six medals at a single Olympic event and having won gold in the 100 m backstroke once more, ‘Nat’ now has the distinction of being the first woman to have accomplished the feat. When Coughlin won a bronze in 2012, she tied Jenny Thompson and Dara Torres for the most medals by a female swimmer at 12 each. Since leaving the sport, she has cooked on the popular show Chopped, has been featured on the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, and graced the cover of the ESPN The Magazine: The Body Issue in 2015.
Natalie Coughlin
Marit Bjørgen
Even though cross-country skiing doesn’t really get a lot of attention during the Olympics, that doesn’t mean Bjørgen’s accomplishments aren’t incredibly impressive. Now retired, Bjørgen is the greatest cross-country skier ever. She has had a staggering 114 individual victories and has captured 15 Olympic medals — the most that any athlete has won in the history of the Winter Olympics. Bjørgen took home three gold medals in 2010 (Vancouver), three in 2014 (Sochi) and two in 2018 (Pyeongchang). Two months after the 2018 Games, Bjørgen announced that she was retiring after the 2018 cross-country skiing season concluded.
Marit Bjørgen
