Shirley Babashoff

Shirley Babashoff is an American former competition swimmer, born in 1957, who won nine Olympic medals and set six world records. She learned to swim around the age of eight in California, trained under Ralph "Flip" Darr and later with the Mission Viejo Nadadores under Mark Schubert. At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich she won gold in the relays and silver in the 100 and 200 metre freestyle. At the 1976 Games in Montreal she won four individual silver medals and a gold in the 4 x 100 metre freestyle relay, which broke the world record by four seconds against a heavily favoured East German team. She also won the 200 and 400 metre freestyle at the 1975 world championships and set thirty-seven national records, and she is remembered as one of the great swimmers of her era.