Summer Sanders
Summer Elisabeth Sanders (born
October 13,
1972 in
Roseville, California) is a sports broadcaster,
actress and
Olympic medalist in
swimming.
Sanders first came to the attention of the swimming world in 1988 when she barely missed a spot on the 1988 U.S. Olympic team. She won three
gold medals at the
1990 Goodwill Games before embarking on her collegiate career at
Stanford University. In two years at Stanford, she compiled six individual
NCAA titles and four relay championships. Sanders earned back-to-back
NCAA Swimmer of the Year awards and propelled Stanford to a national championship in
1992.
At the
1992 Summer Olympics in
Barcelona, Spain, she won
gold medals in the 200-meter
butterfly and in the 400-meter medley relay. She also won a
silver medal in the 200-meter individual medley and a
bronze medal in the 400-meter individual medley. Her individual performances in Barcelona were identical to those a year earlier at the
1991 swimming and diving world championships in
Perth,
Australia. Retiring after the Barcelona Olympics, Sanders later attempted to make the
1996 Olympic team, but she failed to qualify. After failing, she openly cried in front of the national television audience.
As a sports broadcaster, she has hosted many
television series including:
The Sports List (2004),
NBA Inside Stuff (1990),
Beg, Borrow & Deal (2002), and
Figure It Out (1997). She has also appeared as an actress in two films:
Broken Record (1997) and
Jerry Maguire (1996). She still hosts
The Sports List, which airs on
Fox Sports Net. She also co-hosts the
celebreality series
Skating With Celebrities on the
Fox television network.
In June
1999, Sanders published the book
Champions Are Raised, Not Born: How My Parents Made Me A Success (ISBN 0385334214).
On
July 4,
1997, she married Mark Henderson, who was also an Olympic swimmer. The couple divorced in
2001. In July 2005, she married Erik Schlopy, a World Cup skier who competed at the Torino Olympics. The Schlopys' first child, a daughter named Skye Bella, was born April 21, 2006.
An Olympic-size
swimming pool at the Roseville Aquatics Complex in her hometown of
Roseville, California is named after her.
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NBA Inside Stuff - Summer Sanders*
International Swimmers Hall of Fame - Summer Sanders*
Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame Entry*
USA Today - Olympic Swimming: Summer Sanders - chat transcript
*
United States Olympic Committee - Q&A with Summer Sanders - chat transcript
*
IMDb listing*
Figure It Out
