Rachel Komisarz
American swimmer, Olympic gold medalist, world champion, former world record-holder, coach
Rachel Komisarz (born December 5, 1976), also known by her married name Rachel Komisarz-Baugh, is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic gold medalist, world record-holder and collegiate swimming coach.
Born December 5, 1976 in Warren, Michigan, Komisarz began swimming as a senior at Warren Mott High School as a result of a gymnastics injury that left her with two fractured vertebrae.
She swam at the University of Kentucky, becoming a seven-time All American and three-time Southeastern Conference Champion by the end of her four years at the university. More than a dedicated swim athlete during her college years, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Education at the University of Kentucky in 1999 and was a Kinesiology major with an emphasis in exercise. A standout swimmer during her college years, Rachel won Southeastern Conference titles in the 200-meter butterfly, and the 500 and 1650-meter freestyle. She was a three-time SEC Swimmer of the Year, and a recipient of the Southeastern Conference Commissioner's Trophy.
2004 Olympic medals
At the 2004 U.S. Olympic trials, she won the 200-meter butterfly event.
She swam for the United States team at the 2004 Summer Olympics, where she won a gold medal in the women's 4×200-meter freestyle relay, and a silver medal in the women's 4×100-meter medley relay, after swimming in the preliminary session of the meet. Though Komisarz did not swim, the silver medal American relay team in the 4x100-meter medley relay led through the first half of the final heat, but finished with a time of 3:59.12, second to Australia, who won the event for the first time.
With her career extending into her early 30's, in 2008 Komisarz set American records in the 50 and 100-meter butterfly, and helped set relay records in both the 400 and 800-meter freestyle and 400-meter individual medley.
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This entry incorporates text from “Rachel Komisarz” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.