Aaron Peirsol

Aaron Peirsol is an American former competition swimmer and backstroke specialist who swam for the University of Texas and became a world champion and world record holder. Born in 1983 in Newport Beach, California, he began swim training at the age of five and later trained with the Irvine Novaquatics. Over three Olympic Games he won seven medals, five of them gold, among them the 100 and 200 metre backstroke titles at the 2004 Games in Athens and the 100 metre backstroke and the medley relay at Beijing in 2008. Across the Olympics, the World Championships, the Pan American Games and the Pan Pacific Championships he collected thirty-six major international medals, and he held the world record in the 100 metre backstroke.