Born: 1962 (Iowa City, Iowa)
Biography:
Nancy Hogshead-Makar (née Hogshead, born April 17, 1962) is an American swimmer who represented the United States at the 1984 Summer Olympics, where she won three gold medals and one silver medal. She is currently the CEO of Champion Women, an organization leading targeted efforts to advocate for equality and accountability in sports. Her areas of focus include establishing nationwide equal play, such as traditional Title IX compliance in athletic departments, protecting athletes from sexual harassment, abuse and assault, as well as combatting employment, pregnancy, and LGBT discrimination. In 2012, she began working on legislative changes to ensure that club and Olympic sports athletes were protected from sexual abuse. In 2018, the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017, which she co-wrote, was enacted.
Swimming:
Hogshead’s family is from Iowa. She was born in Iowa City, Iowa, but her family moved to Florida shortly afterwards. When she was 11 years old, her family moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where she met coach Randy Reese and was exposed to team-oriented coaching towards nationals. By age 12, she had qualified for the U.S. Senior Nationals and held the national age-group record in the 200 individual medley. Her first American record was in the 100 yard butterfly in 1977.
Hogshead left home to train for the 1980 Olympics with the University of Florida swim team, or FAST, while still in high school. She qualified for the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow in the 200 meter butterfly and the 400 meter individual medley, but did not participate due to the multi-national boycott.
Duke University offered Hogshead its first swimming scholarship. There, she was undefeated in dual meets and set a school record in eight different events, one of which stood until 2011. She was a four-time ACC champion and a two-time All-American. Hogshead was the first woman to be inducted into the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame.
In 1981, Duke University red-shirted Hogshead after she was raped while running between campuses and suffered from PTSD for several months. In the fall of 1982, her coach persuaded her to return to the pool by offering her a scholarship and a position on the team if she merely showed up at the competitions. In January 1983, Hogshead left Duke to train full-time for the 1984 Olympics in California, this time switching from butterfly to freestyle. She won additional national titles on her way to qualifying for the 1984 US swimming team.
At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, Hogshead won three gold medals and one silver medal, becoming the most decorated swimmer at the Games. She competed in the first event of the Games, the women’s 100m freestyle, where she won her first gold medal. She also won gold in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay and the women’s 4x100m medley relay, as well as a silver in the women’s 200m freestyle.
Awards:
– Olympic gold medal in the women’s 100m freestyle at the 1984 Summer Olympics
– Olympic gold medal in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay at the 1984 Summer Olympics
– Olympic gold medal in the women’s 4x100m medley relay at the 1984 Summer Olympics
– Olympic silver medal in the women’s 200m freestyle at the 1984 Summer Olympics