Allison Schmitt

Born in Pittsburgh, PA, American competitive swimmer Allison Schmitt grew up in Canton, Michigan, as one of five siblings. Schmitt began swimming at the age of 9, but showed no indication of how fast she would become until her junior year of high school, when during a 2007 Junior National Competition she cut almost 5 seconds off of her 200-meter freestyle short course time, putting her at the competitive level. During her senior year of high school, Schmitt began training with Olympic champion Michael Phelps under the tutelage of his longtime coach, Bob Bowman. In 2008 Schmitt became a freshman at University of Georgia, and balanced the swim team with her major in psychology and family development. Schmitt took a year off between her junior and senior years of college, and moved to Baltimore to train full time. She competed in the 2012 summer Olympics in London, where she won 3 gold medals, one silver medal, and one bronze medal. Schmitt also set the world record for the 4 x100 meter relay. By any metric her performance was formidable, but when she returned to school for her senior year, she found herself overwhelmed by the public attention, and began suffering from depression. She made the decision to seek therapy public after the suicide of her cousin in May 2013. As of May 2016, Schmitt was slated to compete in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.