Coughlin’s golden career

On August 16, 2004 in Athens, Greece, Natalie Coughlin lived out her lifelong dream. Swimming in the finals of the 100-meter backstroke at the Olympic Games, Coughlin touched the wall at the end of the race just ahead of Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry. She had won her first gold medal.

Coughlin said it was hard for her to put into words what that moment felt like.

“It’s a really surreal feeling,” she said. “It’s something you’ve dreamed about for so many years, that when it actually happens, it doesn’t really feel like it is happening. It’s overwhelming, and kind of indescribable.”

Coughlin, who was just 21 at the time, became one of the biggest American stars of the 2004 Summer Games. She went on to win five medals, including a second gold in the 800-meter freestyle relay, and tied the American record for medals won by a woman in one Olympic Games. A whirlwind of TV appearances and other media functions followed for Coughlin, a sudden celebrity.

“It was pretty hectic,” she said. “I was travelling a lot to New York, doing various appearances out there. It was really hectic, but in a really good way.”

Coughlin began to receive recognition for more than just her swimming, as well. Sports Illustrated named her one of the 20 best-looking female athletes in the world, and other similar publicity came her way. Coughlin said she never paid much attention to it.

“I don’t really remember hearing about (the Sports Illustrated list), but it’s great I guess,” she said.

Coughlin, training for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, will compete at the Missouri Grand Prix this weekend at the Mizzou Aquatic Center. It is the third stop of the seven-event Toyota Grand Prix series, and the last major event before the World Championships in Melbourne, Australia next month.

The meet, which features 21 Olympic swimmers including eight-time medal winner Michael Phelps, begins at 6 tonight. Competition continues Saturday through Monday, with preliminary competition at 9 a.m. and a finals session at 5:30 p.m. each day.

Tickets are $5 per session and will be available at the Mizzou Aquatic Center on the days of the event.

Coughlin will compete the final three days of the event, beginning with the 100-meter freestyle Saturday. She will also swim in the 50-meter freestyle, the 200-meter freestyle, the 100-meter butterfly, and the 100-meter backstroke.

Like most Olympic athletes, Coughlin and her fellow swimming stars from 2004 have faded out of the spotlight in the long four years between Athens and Beijing.

Coughlin has a difficult time explaining why swimming can become so popular for a month every four years and then lose America’s attention so fast.

“If swimming can be fun to watch during the Olympics, why can’t it be without the Olympic title?,” she said. “I think it will get better with people like Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff, and other versatile, successful athletes raising awareness of the sport. It has the potential to be a spectator sport, it just hasn’t reached that status in this country.”

Coughlin may have less interview requests and television appearances these days, but that is just fine with her. She has more time to do the things she enjoys, such as cooking, photography, and spending time with her border terrier She-Ra, named after He-Man’s twin sister in the 1980’s cartoon series “Masters of the Universe.”

“I am obsessed with my dog,” she said. “I run her every day.”

And, of course, there’s training. Coughlin says she trains up to five or six hours a day.

“I’m working hard,” she said. “I do a lot ofcross-training, I swim, I lift weights, I dance, I do pilates, I run.”

Coughlin admits that she hasn’t always worked so hard over the past few years. She missed the 2000 Olympics because of an injury, and was motivated for the 2004 games by a long and frustrating four-year wait for another chance at a gold medal.

“It’s really difficult being a swimmer, that you really only get a chance to validate yourself every four years,” she said. “You just have to be patient, and value having goals and sticking with them, being persistent. It’s just unfortunate that that’s considered the standard of excellence.”

After her success in 2004, Coughlin said she sometimes had a hard time finding something to motivate her the way that missing the 2000 Olympics did for the Athens games.

”There have been times where I struggle with motivation,” she said. “Especially the year right after the Olympics, I thought that way. I thought ‘Why am I doing this? I have an Olympic gold medal, why am I working so hard already?’”

But Coughlin said that after 2005 she became refocused after she took time to reevaluate things in her life.

“I realized how lucky I am to be competing at such a high level of a sport, and doing that as my job,” she said. “I get paid to stay in shape and to travel and compete, I am just incredibly fortunate. That is what has been driving me the past couple years, is just realizing how lucky I really am.”