Emily LeSueur (born November 7, 1972) is an American competitor in

synchronized swimming Synchronized swimming (in British English, synchronised swimming), also known as artistic swimming, is a sport where swimmers perform a synchronized choreographed routine, accompanied by music. The sport is governed internationally by World A ...

and was a 1996 Atlanta Olympic champion.

Early life

LeSueur tried several sports, starting out as a dancer, and as a youth started in a Mesa Parks Swim program. Because of her love of both swimming and the water, she decided on synchronized swimming. She first took up the sport at age 12, around 1984 in Mesa, Arizona, where she grew up. She attended Carson Junior High and swam for Mesa's Westwood High School. From around 1985-1994, she performed with the Arizona Stars, known as the Arizona Aqua Stars. She later enrolled and graduated from

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

where she met her husband. At Arizona State, she earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, and was an All-American in synchronized swimming.

Pre-Olympic competition

Prior to the 1996 Olympics, she was a US Olympic Festival team champion, a US Collegiate solo champion, a French Open team champion, and a US Collegiate solo silver medalist. Competing under her maiden name of Emily Porter, she won a gold medal at the 1991 Pan American Games in group competition. After travelling extensively for a period as a competitor, she trained for the Olympics with the U.S. team in California's San Francisco Bay Area, where most of the members of the U.S. team lived. Training for six to eight hours a day, she did road running, plyometrics, dancing, and swimming, in addition to her rigorous water routines. After the Olympics, she planned to work as a teacher while her husband attended medical school.

1996 Atlanta Olympics

She competed with the American team of ten at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, receiving a gold medal in synchronized team competition 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, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. Since 1973 the top finishers had always been America, followed by Canada, and then Japan, and that was the order of finish in Atlanta in 1996. In 1993 she married dermatologist Ben LeSueur, who also attended Arizona State, and after medical school would practice in Phoenix, Arizona. The couple raised five children.

References

* 1972 births Living people American synchronized swimmers Synchronized swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in synchronized swimming Sportspeople from Glendale, California Olympic medalists in synchronized swimming Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics {{US-swimming-Olympic-medalist-stub