Melanie M. Valerio (born May 7, 1969) 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 ...

and Olympic gold medalist. Valerio was born in

Campbell, Ohio Campbell (; ) is a city in eastern Mahoning County, Ohio, United States, along the Mahoning River. The population was 7,852 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located directly southeast of Youngstown, Ohio, Youngstown, it is a suburb i ...

and graduated from the

Hawken School Hawken School is an independent, coeducational, college preparatory day school in Northeast Ohio. Hawken currently has two main campuses, the Lower and Middle Schools in Lyndhurst and the Upper School in Chester Township, plus a third, an ur ...

Gates Mills, Ohio Gates Mills is a village in eastern Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. A suburb of Cleveland, it is part of the Cleveland metropolitan area. The population was 2,264 at the 2020 census. History Gates Mills was originally part of Mayfield T ...

. Afterward, she attended the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the county seat, seat of government of Albemarle County, Virginia, Albemarle County, which surrounds the ...

, where she swam for the Virginia Cavaliers swimming and diving team. 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, Valerio earned a gold medal by swimming for the winning U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay. Valerio races Ironman and is an elite age-group member of the Timex Multisport Team. She often blogs her races and training for Time

References

1969 births Living people American female freestyle swimmers Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming Sportspeople from Cleveland Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Virginia Cavaliers women's swimmers Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics People from Campbell, Ohio Sportspeople from Mahoning County, Ohio Hawken School alumni 20th-century American sportswomen {{US-swimming-bio-stub

See also

References