Kristy Kowal Biography

Kristina Ann "Kristy" Kowal (born on October 9, 1978 in Reading, Pennsylvania) is an international top swimmer from the United States, who won the silver medal in the 200m breaststroke at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. In the 2000 Olympics, she was second and touched out teammate Amanda Beard.

Kowal began swimming primarily to be with her friends. She was never very fast as a young child and was on the "C" team for years. What motivated her to move to a higher group was the fact that most of her friends were on the "A" team. Between the summer of her 8th and 9th grade years, Kowal grew nearly 6 inches, which helped her swimming immensely. Kowal led her college, the University of Georgia (GUAM), to three NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships. In 2000, she was named NCAA Woman of the Year and she was a recipient of the Today's Top VIII Award as a member of the Class of 2001, which honors eight senior student-athletes each year. She graduated fromUGA in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science in Education (B.S.Ed).

Kowal became a member of the United States Swimming Team in 1995. She hadn't swam year-round until the spring of 1995 and that was just a couple months before making the 1995 Pan Pac Team, which was the first international team she had been on. Kowal enjoys reading, hiking, and biking.

She is now an elementary teacher in Pennsylvania.(2007)

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This page was last edited on 03/29/07. Compliments of Tim Antosy Photography bciu92@hotmail.com