Keena Rothhammer

Keena Rothhammer is an American former competition swimmer who became an Olympic champion as a teenager. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on 26 February 1957, she moved with her family to southern California, where she trained with the Santa Clara Swim Club under the Hall of Fame coach George Haines. At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, aged fifteen, she won the women's 800 metre freestyle in a world record time and became the youngest person to take that title, and she also won bronze in the 200 metre freestyle. In 1973 she won the 200 metre freestyle at the first World Aquatics Championships and took silver in the 400 metre freestyle, and she was named North American Athlete of the Year. She held two world records, won fifteen United States national championships and was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1991 as an Honor Swimmer. After retiring she studied broadcast journalism at the University of Southern California and worked in financial services.