Allison Schmitt facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Allison Schmitt

Schmitt at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Personal information
Nickname(s)	"Schmitty", "Al", "Allie", "Arschmitty"
Born	(1990-06-07) June 7, 1990 (age 35) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Height	6 ft 1 in
Weight	165 lbs
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle
Club	Plymouth Canton Cruisers North Baltimore Aquatic Club Club Wolverine
College team	University of Georgia
Medal record Women's swimming Representing the  United States Event 1st 2nd 3rd Summer Olympics 4 3 3 World Championships (LC) 1 4 0 World Championships (SC) 3 0 0 Pan Pacific Championships 2 1 0 Pan American Games 3 1 0 Olympic Games Gold 2012 London 200 m freestyle Gold 2012 London 4×200 m freestyle Gold 2012 London 4×100 m medley Gold 2016 Rio de Janeiro 4×200 m freestyle Silver 2012 London 400 m freestyle Silver 2016 Rio de Janeiro 4×100 m freestyle Silver 2020 Tokyo 4×200 m freestyle Bronze 2008 Beijing 4×200 m freestyle Bronze 2012 London 4×100 m freestyle Bronze 2020 Tokyo 4×100 m freestyle World Championships (LC) Gold 2011 Shanghai 4×200 m freestyle Silver 2009 Rome 200 m freestyle Silver 2009 Rome 4×200 m freestyle Silver 2019 Gwangju 4×100 m freestyle Silver 2019 Gwangju 4×200 m freestyle World Championships (SC) Gold 2012 Istanbul 200 m freestyle Gold 2012 Istanbul 4×100 m freestyle Gold 2012 Istanbul 4×200 m freestyle Pan Pacific Championships Gold 2010 Irvine 200 m freestyle Gold 2010 Irvine 4×200 m freestyle Silver 2018 Tokyo 4×200 m freestyle Pan American Games Gold 2015 Toronto 200 m freestyle Gold 2015 Toronto 4×100 m medley Gold 2015 Toronto 4×200 m freestyle Silver 2015 Toronto 4×100 m freestyle

Allison Rodgers Schmitt, born on June 7, 1990, is an American swimmer. She is known for her amazing freestyle swimming. Allison has competed in four Olympic Games. She has won ten Olympic medals.

At her first Olympics in Beijing 2008, Allison won a bronze medal. This was for the 4×200-meter freestyle relay race. Four years later, at the London 2012 Olympics, she won five medals. Three of these were gold medals. She won gold in the 200-meter freestyle, setting a new Olympic record. She also won gold in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. Her third gold was in the 4×100-meter medley relay, where her team set a new world record. Allison also earned a silver medal in the 400-meter freestyle. She won a bronze medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.

At the Rio 2016 Olympics, Allison won another gold medal. This was for the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. She also earned a silver medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. This was her first time being a captain for the US Olympic swim team. Allison was also a captain for the US Olympic swim team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. In Tokyo, she won a bronze medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. She also won a silver medal in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay.

Overall, Allison has won twenty-five medals in big international swimming events. These include thirteen gold, nine silver, and three bronze medals. She has competed in the Summer Olympics, FINA World Championships, Pan Pacific Championships, and Pan American Games. In college, she was a four-time national champion. She won titles in the 200- and 500-yard freestyle events. She was also part of the Georgia Bulldogs team that won a major college title in 2013. In 2012, she was named Female Swimmer of the Year by SwimSwam.

About Allison Schmitt

Allison was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1990. She grew up in Canton, Michigan, with her parents, Ralph and Gail, and four siblings. Allison's parents have been very supportive of her dreams. She said they helped her a lot and set a good example.

Allison has an older sister, Kirsten, and an older brother, Derek. Derek swam in college and is now a swim coach. Her younger twin sisters, Kari and Sara, played hockey and also swam in high school.

Allison started swimming when she was eight years old. She followed her older sister into the sport. She once thought about quitting, but decided to stay one more season and ended up loving it. Before swimming, she tried many other sports like soccer, dance, and basketball.

From ages 10 to 13, Allison swam with the Ann Arbor Swim Club. Her coach at the time, Josh Morgan, said she started showing her true potential in high school. She became "really fast" in the 200-meter freestyle.

Allison went to Canton High School and graduated in 2008. During her senior year, she trained with famous swimmer Michael Phelps. Their coach was Bob Bowman. After high school, Allison moved to Baltimore to train full-time with them. This was before the 2008 Olympics, where she won her first Olympic medal.

After the 2008 Olympics, Allison went to the University of Georgia. She studied psychology and joined the Georgia Bulldogs swimming and diving team. She became a four-time national champion in college swimming.

Before the 2012 London Olympics, Allison took a year off from college. She moved back to Baltimore to train with Coach Bowman and Michael Phelps. She trained for at least four hours in the pool, six days a week.

After the 2012 Olympics, Allison returned to college. She received the Honda Sports Award for Swimming and Diving. This award recognized her as the best college female swimmer of 2012–13. After London, Allison faced some challenges. She started to feel overwhelmed by the public attention. She later realized she was experiencing depression. In 2015, she talked to Michael Phelps and Coach Bowman about her feelings. She decided to go to therapy. Allison later shared her story publicly. She hoped it would help other people who were going through similar struggles.

Allison enjoys scrapbooking, photography, and playing outdoor sports. She also likes board games. To relax, she watches movies or gets a massage. When she visits her hometown, she likes to visit local youth swim clubs. She swims and talks with young swimmers, acting as a role model.

Allison has said that swimming has shaped who she is. She feels lucky for all the friends she has made through the sport. She is also a good friend of Michael Phelps.

Allison's Swimming Career

2008 Beijing Olympics

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Allison won a bronze medal. She was part of the 4×200-meter freestyle relay team. The team set an American record. Allison also swam in the 200-meter freestyle but did not make it to the final.

2009 World Championships

At the 2009 World Aquatics Championships in Rome, Allison competed in three events. She won a silver medal in the 200-meter freestyle. She set an American record in this race. Her team also won a silver medal in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. They set another American record.

2011 World Championships

At the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, Allison won a gold medal. This was for the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. She swam the final part of the race. She also finished sixth in the individual 200-meter freestyle.

2012 London Olympics

Schmitt holds up her silver medal at the 400m freestyle, alongside fellow medalists Camille Muffat and Rebecca Adlington.

Before the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Allison qualified for the US Olympic team. She finished first in the 200-meter and 400-meter freestyle races. She also broke her own American record in the 200-meter freestyle.

In London, Allison won five medals. She earned a bronze in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. Her team set an American record. She won her first individual Olympic medal, a silver, in the 400-meter freestyle. She also set an American record in this event.

In the 200-meter freestyle, Allison won a gold medal. She set a new Olympic record and an American record. She won by a large margin. In the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, Allison earned her second gold medal. She swam the final part of the race, helping her team win. In her last event, the 4×100-meter medley relay, Allison won another gold. Her team set a new world record in this race.

2015 Pan American Games

Allison missed some big competitions in 2013 and 2014. But her performance at the 2014 National Championships helped her qualify for the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto. This was her first international event since 2012.

At these games, Allison won gold in the 200-meter freestyle. She also helped her teams win gold in the 4×200-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter medley relays. All these wins set new competition records. She also earned a silver medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.

2016 Rio Olympics

At the 2016 US Olympic Trials, Allison finished fourth in the 200m freestyle. This qualified her for the relay team. She became one of only a few American female swimmers to compete in three Olympics. She was also named one of the captains for the US Olympic Swim Team.

Allison earned her seventh Olympic medal by swimming in the qualifying heat of the 4×100m freestyle relay. The US team later won silver in the final. She earned her fourth gold medal and eighth Olympic medal in the 4×200m freestyle relay final.

Schmitt (left) and Michael Phelps (right) in Rio 2016

2018 Pan Pacific Championships

In August 2018, Allison won a silver medal. This was for the women's 4x200-meter relay at the 2018 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Tokyo, Japan.

2019 World Championships

In July 2019, Allison competed at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. She won two silver medals. One was in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay. The other was in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay.

2020 Tokyo Olympics

Allison was chosen to be a captain for the US swim team at the 2020 Summer Olympics. This was her second time as an Olympic team captain.

On the first day of the Olympics, Allison swam in the early heats of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay. Her help allowed the team to reach the final. In the final, the relay team won a bronze medal. Allison received a bronze medal for her part in the early heats.

Allison also swam in the 200-meter freestyle. She qualified for the semifinals but did not make it to the final.

On day six of the competition, Allison swam the first part of the 4x200-meter freestyle relay final. Her team set a new Americas record and won the silver medal. Allison used a special strategy where she swam a bit slower at the start. This was to motivate the other swimmers to go even faster. This tactic caught the attention of People magazine. She was also nominated for a Golden Goggle Award for "Relay Performance of the Year."

Personal Best Times

Allison's best swimming times in long course events are:

Awards and Honors

• 2012 Golden Goggle Award, Relay Performance of the Year: 4x100-meter freestyle relay
• 2012 SwimSwam Swammy Award, Swimmer of the Year (female)
• 2013 Honda Sports Award (Swimming & Diving)
• 2015 Golden Goggle Award, Perseverance Award
• 2019 Michigan Sports Hall of Fame
• 2021 Golden Goggle Award nominee, Relay Performance of the Year: 4x200-meter freestyle relay

See also

In Spanish: Allison Schmitt para niños

• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists
• List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)
• List of multiple Summer Olympic medalists
• List of United States records in swimming
• List of University of Georgia people
• List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (women)
• List of world records in swimming
• World record progression 4 × 100 metres medley relay