Jenny Thompson

For other people named Jenny Thompson, see Jenny Thompson (disambiguation).

Jennifer Beth Thompson (born February 26, 1973) is an American former competition swimmer and anesthesiologist.

Jenny Thompson

Personal information
Full name	Jennifer Beth Thompson
National team	United States
Born	(1973-02-26) February 26, 1973 (age 49) Danvers, Massachusetts, U.S.
Height	5 ft 9+1⁄2 in (177 cm)^[1]
Weight	152 lb (69 kg)^[1]
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Butterfly, freestyle
Club	Seacoast Swimming Association, Stanford, Badger Swim Club
College team	Stanford University
Medal record Women's swimming Representing  United States Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 8 3 1 World Championships (LC) 7 5 2 World Championships (SC) 11 5 2 Pan Pacific Championships 25 7 2 Pan American Games 2 0 1 Total 53 20 8 Olympic Games 1992 Barcelona 4×100 m freestyle 1992 Barcelona 4×100 m medley 1996 Atlanta 4×100 m freestyle 1996 Atlanta 4×200 m freestyle 1996 Atlanta 4×100 m medley 2000 Sydney 4×100 m freestyle 2000 Sydney 4×200 m freestyle 2000 Sydney 4×100 m medley 1992 Barcelona 100 m freestyle 2004 Athens 4×100 m freestyle 2004 Athens 4×100 m medley 2000 Sydney 100 m freestyle World Championships (LC) 1991 Perth 4×100 m freestyle 1998 Perth 100 m freestyle 1998 Perth 100 m butterfly 1998 Perth 4×100 m freestyle 1998 Perth 4×100 m medley 2003 Barcelona 100 m butterfly 2003 Barcelona 4×100 m freestyle 1994 Rome 4×100 m freestyle 1994 Rome 4×100 m medley 1998 Perth 4×200 m freestyle 2003 Barcelona 50 m butterfly 2003 Barcelona 4×100 m medley 1994 Rome 4×200 m freestyle 2003 Barcelona 100 m freestyle World Championships (SC) 1997 Gothenburg 100 m freestyle 1997 Gothenburg 100 m butterfly 1997 Gothenburg 4×100 m medley 1999 Hong Kong 100 m freestyle 1999 Hong Kong 50 m butterfly 1999 Hong Kong 100 m butterfly 1999 Hong Kong 4×100 m medley 2000 Athens 50 m butterfly 2000 Athens 100 m butterfly 2004 Indianapolis 50 m butterfly 2004 Indianapolis 4×100 m freestyle 1997 Gothenburg 50 m freestyle 1999 Hong Kong 50 m freestyle 2000 Athens 100 m freestyle 2000 Athens 4×200 m freestyle 2004 Indianapolis 4×100 m medley 2000 Athens 4×100 m medley 2004 Indianapolis 100 m butterfly Pan Pacific Championships 1989 Tokyo 50 m freestyle 1989 Tokyo 4×100 m freestyle 1991 Edmonton 50 m freestyle 1991 Edmonton 4×100 m freestyle 1993 Kobe 50 m freestyle 1993 Kobe 100 m freestyle 1993 Kobe 100 m butterfly 1993 Kobe 4×100 m freestyle 1993 Kobe 4×200 m freestyle 1993 Kobe 4×100 m medley 1995 Atlanta 100 m freestyle 1995 Atlanta 4×100 m freestyle 1995 Atlanta 4×200 m freestyle 1997 Fukuoka 100 m freestyle 1997 Fukuoka 100 m butterfly 1997 Fukuoka 4×100 m freestyle 1997 Fukuoka 4×200 m freestyle 1997 Fukuoka 4×100 m medley 1999 Sydney 50 m freestyle 1999 Sydney 100 m freestyle 1999 Sydney 100 m butterfly 1999 Sydney 4×100 m freestyle 1999 Sydney 4×200 m freestyle 1999 Sydney 4×100 m medley 2002 Yokohama 50 m freestyle 1989 Tokyo 100 m freestyle 1995 Atlanta 50 m freestyle 1995 Atlanta 100 m butterfly 1995 Atlanta 4×100 m medley 1997 Fukuoka 50 m freestyle 2002 Yokohama 4×100 m freestyle 2002 Yokohama 4×100 m medley 2002 Yokohama 100 m freestyle 2002 Yokohama 100 m butterfly Pan American Games 1987 Indianapolis 50 m freestyle 1987 Indianapolis 4×100 m freestyle 1987 Indianapolis 100 m freestyle

She is one of the most decorated Olympians in history: twelve medals, including eight gold medals, in the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 Summer Olympics.

Thompson, a Massachusetts native who calls Dover, New Hampshire her hometown, began swimming at age 7 at a summer country club called Cedardale in Groveland, Massachusetts. During the indoor season, she swam at the Danvers YMCA from ages 8 to 10, and then at the Andover-North Andover YMCA from the ages of 10 to 12. At age 12 she began swimming for Seacoast Swimming Association under coaches Amy and Mike Parratto, and moved to Dover at age 13.

She first appeared on the international scene as a 14-year-old in 1987, when she won the 50-meter freestyle and placed third in the 100-meter freestyle at the Pan American Games. She won her first world championship in 1991, as part of the USA's winning 4×100-meter freestyle relay team, and held the world record in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle when she participated in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Thompson attended Stanford University, and swam for the Stanford Cardinal swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and Pacific-10 Conference competition. She was the recipient of the 1994–95 Honda Sports Award for Swimming and Diving, recognizing her as the outstanding college female swimmer of the year.^[2][3]

In 2006, Thompson received a medical degree from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, completed a residency in anesthesiology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and then a fellowship in pediatric anesthesiology at Children's Hospital of Boston.^[4]

World competitions and records

1992 Olympics

Thought to be at the height of her competitive career at the time, Thompson was expected to win up to five gold medals at those Olympics. However, she failed to qualify for the final in the 200-meter freestyle, finished a disappointing fifth in the 50-meter, and finished second in the 100-meter, where she was beaten by Zhuang Yong of China. Thompson won two gold medals as part of the 4×100-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter medley teams. Considerable controversy was raised after the 100-meter freestyle when the U.S. team speculated on the loose doping policy standards in Barcelona—at that time the event winner did not have a mandatory doping test—only the second and fourth-place finishers were tested, based on a random draw. Thompson and her teammates believed that the Olympic champion should be tested and that rule was changed a few months later when nine members of the Chinese swimming team tested positive for steroid use.

University years

Thompson continued her career as a member of the U.S. national team and a member of the Stanford University swimming team, and continued to rank among the world's best swimmers for the next four years. During Thompson's four years at Stanford, she was a member of four NCAA championship teams, considered to be some of the most dominant collegiate teams in NCAA history. During that time, Thompson amassed nineteen individual and relay NCAA titles. She competed as a member of the USA Finswimming Team at the 8th World Championship held in Hungary during August 1996.^[5] Thompson had a poor performance at the 1996 Olympic Trials which kept her from qualifying in her individual events.

1996 Olympics

Thompson won Gold medals on three relay teams at the Olympics; the 4×100-meter freestyle, 4×100-meter medley, and 4×200-meter freestyle.

Between 1997 and 1999, Thompson won eight more world championship titles, including three in a row in the 100-meter freestyle.

2000 Olympics

At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia she won a bronze in the 100-meter freestyle and was fifth in the 100-meter butterfly. But in the relay events, she swam the anchor leg in helping the USA defend its titles in the 4×100-meter freestyle and the 4×200-meter freestyle relays. She also swam the butterfly leg in the winning 4×100-meter relays. The 4×100-meter freestyle and medley teams set new world records in the process.

2000 through 2004

At the World Championships that year, she broke the world record in the 100-meter butterfly for the fourth time, winning a qualifying heat in a time of 56.56 en route to a gold medal in the event. Thompson seemingly retired from competition after the 2000 season with 10 Olympic medals, eight gold, one silver and one bronze, and 12 gold medals at World Championships. In 2001, Thompson moved to New York City to begin studying at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. However, while attending medical school, she made a return to competition at the 2002 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Yokohama, Japan. Thompson won five medals in two days, setting a career-best time in winning the 50-meter freestyle. At the 2003 World Championships, she would win five medals, including two gold medals.

2004 Olympics

At age 31, Thompson was the oldest member of the 2004 U.S. Swimming and Diving team, competing in her fourth Olympics in Athens, Greece. She was the anchor member of the 400-meter freestyle relay, where she contributed to a national record of 3:36.39 and a silver medal. She earned another silver medal as a member of the 4×100-meter medley relay. During her Olympic career, Thompson won twelve medals, eight of which were relay gold; the most for any female Olympic swimmer in history.^[1]

Recent life and work

In 2006, Thompson received a medical degree from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She did her internship at the New York City Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and residency anesthesiologist at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.^[4] In June 2010 she was assaulted when two men attempted to steal her scooter, however she was able to fight off both of her attackers.^[6][7]

Thompson married Daniel Richard Cumpelik on September 5, 2010.^[8] She currently works as an anesthesiologist for the Spectrum medical group at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine.

Thompson has volunteered as a celebrity swimmer for Swim Across America, a charitable organization that raises money for cancer research, since 1995.

Accolades and other recognition

She was the 1993 and 1998 USA Swimming Swimmer of the Year, and ranked as the 62nd greatest female athlete of all time in a 1999 poll conducted by Sports Illustrated. She was named by Swimming World Magazine as the Female World Swimmer of the Year in 1998, and as Female American Swimmer of the Year in 1993, 1998 and 1999. She was the Women's Sports Foundation's Athlete of the Year in 2000.

Her adopted hometown of Dover, New Hampshire has a public swimming pool named in her honor.

See also

•  Biography portal
•  Olympics portal

• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists
• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists at a single Games
• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists in one event
• List of multiple Olympic medalists
• List of multiple Summer Olympic medalists
• List of Stanford University people
• List of top Olympic gold medalists in swimming
• List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (women)
• World record progression 50 metres butterfly
• World record progression 100 metres butterfly
• World record progression 100 metres freestyle
• World record progression 100 metres individual medley
• World record progression 4 × 100 metres freestyle relay
• World record progression 4 × 100 metres medley relay

References

1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. . Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on December 3, 2016. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
2. Collegiate Women Sports Awards, Past Honda Sports Award Winners for Swimming & Diving. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
3. "Jenny Thompson • The Daily Dose". The Daily Dose. June 7, 2016. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
4. Shinzawa, Fluto (June 15, 2006). "Thompson has new calling" (subscription required). The Boston Globe. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
5. Howley, Elaine K. (January 7, 2014). "MonoMermaid The Olympic champion's other breathless aquatic adventures". United States Masters Swimming, Inc. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
6. Town, Your (June 30, 2010). "Olympian allegedly assaulted in Brookline". The Boston Globe.
7. . wbztv.com. July 1, 2010. Archived from the original on July 3, 2010. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
8. Schwartz, Paula (September 3, 2010). "Jenny Thompson, Daniel Cumpelik". The New York Times. Retrieved July 5, 2011.

External links

• at the Wayback Machine (archived May 12, 2008)
• Jenny Thompson at Olympics.com  
• at OlympicChannel.com (archived)  
• at Olympic.org (archived)  
• at the Wayback Machine (archived February 18, 2015)

Records
Preceded by Kristin Otto	Women's 100-meter freestyle world record-holder (long course) March 1, 1992 – September 5, 1994	Succeeded by Jingyi Le
Preceded by Ayari Aoyama	Women's 100-meter butterfly world record-holder (short course) April 19, 1997 – January 26, 2002	Succeeded by Martina Moravcová
Preceded by Misty Hyman	Women's 50-meter butterfly world record-holder (short course) November 29, 1997 – December 10, 1999	Succeeded by Anna-Karin Kammerling
Preceded by Martina Moravcová Martina Moravcová	Women's 100-meter individual medley world record-holder (short course) January 16, 1999 – April 2, 1999 April 2, 1999 – November 23, 2002	Succeeded by Martina Moravcová Natalie Coughlin
Preceded by Mary T. Meagher	Women's 100-meter butterfly world record-holder (long course) August 23, 1999 – May 27, 2000	Succeeded by Inge de Bruijn
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Claudia Poll	Swimming World World Swimmer of the Year 1998	Succeeded by Penny Heyns
Preceded by Summer Sanders Kristine Quance	Swimming World American Swimmer of the Year 1993 1998–1999	Succeeded by Allison Wagner Brooke Bennett
Olympic Games
Preceded by Carl Osburn	Most career Olympic medals by an American 2004–2008	Succeeded by Michael Phelps
Preceded by Mark Spitz
Preceded by Matt Biondi
Preceded by Shirley Babashoff	Most career Olympic medals by an American woman 2000 – current	Incumbent