Greatest American Swimming Swimmers of All Time
The greatest American swimming swimmers in history — ranked by career achievements, honours and legacy.
AmericanAll American Swimming Athletes
Browse all 24 american swimming athletes in our database.
American
Allison Schmitt
Freestyle
American swimmer who won 10 Olympic medals including 4 golds, specializing in freestyle events and r…
American
Bobby Finke
Freestyle (Distance)
American distance swimmer who became Olympic champion in 800m and 1500m freestyle, setting multiple …
American
Caeleb Dressel
Freestyle/Butterfly Sprinter
American swimmer and seven-time Olympic gold medalist, world record holder in sprint freestyle and b…
American
Debbie Meyer
Swimmer (Freestyle)
American swimmer who dominated distance freestyle events in the late 1960s, becoming the first swimm…
American
Don Schollander
Freestyle (Sprint)
American swimmer who dominated freestyle events in the 1960s, becoming the first swimmer to win four…
American
Duke Kahanamoku
Freestyle (Sprint)
American swimmer and surfer who won Olympic gold medals and popularized surfing worldwide, known as …
American
Gretchen Walsh
Freestyle / Butterfly
American swimmer born 2001, world record holder in 100m butterfly and 100m individual medley short c…
American
Janet Evans
Distance Freestyle Swimmer
The greatest female distance swimmer before Katie Ledecky — four Olympic gold medals and a 400m worl…
American
John Naber
Backstroke
American swimmer who dominated backstroke events in the 1970s, winning four Olympic gold medals at t…
American
Johnny Weissmuller
Freestyle (Sprint)
American swimmer who won 5 Olympic gold medals and set 67 world records before becoming famous as Ta…
American
Kate Douglass
Individual Medley
American swimmer specializing in breaststroke and individual medley, Olympic and World Championship …
American
Katie Ledecky
Swimmer
American swimmer widely regarded as the greatest female distance swimmer of all time, holding multip…
American
Mark Spitz
Swimmer
American swimmer who dominated the 1972 Munich Olympics, winning seven gold medals and setting seven…
American
Matt Biondi
Freestyle (Sprint)
American swimmer who dominated sprinting events in the 1980s and early 1990s, winning 8 Olympic gold…
American
Michael Phelps
Swimmer
American swimmer and most decorated Olympian in history with 28 Olympic medals including 23 golds ac…
American
Missy Franklin
Backstroke
American swimmer who dominated backstroke and freestyle events, winning 5 Olympic gold medals and 11…
American
Natalie Coughlin
Swimmer (Backstroke/Freestyle)
American swimmer who became the first woman to swim 100m backstroke under 59 seconds and first Ameri…
American
Regan Smith
Backstroke
American swimmer who set multiple world records in backstroke events and won Olympic and World Champ…
American
Rowdy Gaines
Freestyle (Sprint)
American sprint swimmer who won three Olympic gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and set m…
American
Ryan Lochte
Multi-Stroke Swimmer
American swimmer and 12-time Olympic medalist, second most decorated male swimmer in Olympic history…
American
Ryan Murphy
Backstroke
American swimmer and multiple Olympic champion, widely regarded as one of the greatest backstroke sw…
American
Simone Manuel
Swimmer (Freestyle)
American competitive swimmer and Olympic champion, first African American woman to win individual Ol…
American
Torri Huske
Butterfly / Freestyle
American swimmer specializing in butterfly and freestyle events, Olympic gold medalist and world cha…
American
Tracy Caulkins
Swimmer (Individual Medley)
American swimmer who dominated the individual medley events in the late 1970s and 1980s, winning thr…