Allison Marie Wagner (born July 21, 1977) is an American former competition

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

, Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder.

Early years

Wagner was born in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, United States, and the most populous city in North Central Florida, with a population of 145,212 in 2022. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gainesv ...

.Julian Pleasants,
Allison Wagner
" University of Florida Oral History Project, George A. Smathers Libraries, Gainesville, Florida (February 10, 1997). Retrieved July 29, 2011. Her parents required her and her two brothers to participate in sports.John Oehser,
Allison Wagner: More than OK
" ''Swimming World'', vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 39–42 (February 1994). Retrieved July 29, 2011. Her brothers picked American football and soccer; she attempted ballet, softball and soccer before discovering that she was good at swimming. At the age of 7, she began her competition swimming career in Berlin, Germany, where her father was stationed in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

. After her father retired from army service, her family moved to Gainesville, and she attended the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), more commonly known as the International Baccalaureate (IB), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the I ...

program at Eastside High School in Gainesville. While in high school, Wagner swam for the Eastside swim team for one semester, and trained for national and international competition with the Florida Aquatics club team under coach Kevin Thornton.

Swimming career

Wagner won the gold medal in the 200-meter individual medley and the silver medal in the 400-meter individual medley at the

1993 FINA Short Course World Championships The 1st Short Course Swimming World Championships were organized by FINA and held in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, December 2–5, 1993. The meet featured competition in a Short course (swimming), short course (25 meter) pool. During the championship ...

in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Her winning time in the 200-meter medley (2:07.79) stood as the world record in the event for over fourteen years until Zimbabwe's

Kirsty Coventry Kirsty Leigh Coventry Seward (née Coventry; born 16 September 1983) is a Zimbabwean politician, sports administrator and former competitive swimmer. She will become the 10th president of the International Olympic Committee in June 2025, being ...

broke it at the World Short Course Championships in April 2008 in Manchester, England, when Coventry clocked 2:06.13. ''

Swimming World } ''Swimming World'' is a US-based quarterly swimming magazine that was first published in a magazine format as ''Junior Swimmer'' in January 1960. It concurrently runs online websites ''Swimming World Magazine'' and ''Swimming World News'' (kn ...

'' magazine named Wagner as its American Swimmer of the Year in January 1994—when she was only 16 years old. At the 1994 U.S. long-course championships held in August 1994, she won the national titles in the 200-meter and 400-meter individual medley events, as well as the 200-meter breaststroke. Wagner graduated early from high school to accept an athletic scholarship to attend the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

in Gainesville, where she swam for coach Chris Martin and coach Kevin Thornton's

Florida Gators swimming and diving The Florida Gators swimming and diving program represents the University of Florida in the aquatics sports of swimming and diving. The program includes separate men's and women's teams, both of which compete in Division I of the National Coll ...

teams in

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) competition from 1995 to 1998.
Florida Swimming & Diving 2011–12 Media Supplement
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 61, 62, 67, 69, 75–76, 79 (2011). Retrieved April 10, 2012. As a Gator swimmer, she won seven

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC) titles and the 1995 NCAA title in the 400-yard individual medley. Wagner was named the SEC Female Swimmer of the Year in 1995 and 1996 and the Gators' Most Valuable Swimmer in 1996, and received eleven

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

honors. At the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in Atlanta, Georgia, Wagner won the silver medal in the 400-meter individual medley, finishing second behind Ireland's

Michelle Smith Michelle Smith de Bruin (born 16 December 1969) is an Irish lawyer and retired Olympic swimmer. She won three gold medals at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, for the 400 m individual medley, 400 m freestyle and 200 m indiv ...

.Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes
Allison Wagner
Retrieved July 29, 2011. Four days later, she swam in the 200-meter individual medley and finished sixth. On several occasions during Wagner's career, she was beaten in major championships by swimmers who were highly suspected or later proven to be users of banned performance-enhancing substances. Besides Michelle Smith in the 1996 Olympics, Wagner finished second behind China's Dai Guohong in the 1993 Short Course World Championships (200-meter individual medley) and China's Lü Bin at the 1994 Worlds (both 200-meter and 400-meter individual medley). Dai never failed a drug test, but Lu tested positive a few weeks after beating Wagner. Nevertheless, Lu was allowed to keep her 200-meter individual medley gold medal. Wagner retired from competition swimming in 2000, but attempted a comeback in 2006–07.

Artist

Wagner is a painter and founding member of the International Olympic organization called

Art of the Olympians Art of the Olympians (AOTO) is an organization and program of Olympian and Paralympian artists that promotes the Olympic ideals of values, integrity, character, respect, honor, and work ethic through exhibitions and educational programs. It puts ...

References

External links

AllisonWagner.com
– Official website of Allison Wagner * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Allison 1977 births Living people American female medley swimmers Florida Gators women's swimmers World record setters in swimming Olympic silver medalists for the United States in swimming Sportspeople from Gainesville, Florida Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Eastside High School (Gainesville, Florida) alumni 20th-century American sportswomen

Early years

Swimming career

Artist

See also

References

External links