Shannon Vreeland (born November 15, 1991) 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 ...

specializing in freestyle and Olympic gold medallist. She was a member of the 2012 United States Olympic team, and won a gold medal in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the 2012 London Summer Olympics. Vreeland had won a total of nineteen medals in major international competitions, including thirteen gold medals, three silver, and three bronze, spanning the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

, Pan Pacific Championships, and

Summer Universiade The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a portmanteau of the words "Universi ...

. Vreeland retired after the 2016 Olympic Trials and began attending

law school A law school (also known as a law centre/center, college of law, or faculty of law) is an institution, professional school, or department of a college or university specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for b ...

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

in the fall of 2016.

Personal life

Vreeland was born in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

to Connie and Daniel Vreeland, and has a twin sister, Michelle. She grew up in

Overland Park, Kansas Overland Park ( ) is the largest city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States, and the List of cities in Kansas#Highest population listing, second-most populous city in the state of Kansas. It is one of four principal city, principal cities in ...

, and attended Blue Valley West High School, graduating in 2010. Vreeland attended the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

, majoring in international affairs and economics, and graduated

Omicron Delta Kappa Omicron Delta Kappa (), also known as The Circle and ODK, is an American collegiate honor society that recognizes leadership and scholarship. It was founded in 1914, at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia and has chartered more t ...

and

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

. In the fall of 2016, Vreeland began attending law school at

, and graduated in May, 2019. After law school, she served as a legal clerk for the

Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (in case citations, 8th Cir.) is a United States federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States district courts: * Eastern District of Arkansas * Western Dist ...

for the Honorable Judge Duane Benton, and now works as an Environmental, Land Use, and Natural Resources associate at Alston & Bird LLP.

Swimming career

College Swimming

Vreeland swam for coach Jack Bauerle's

Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The offic ...

. She has been a member of three of the Bulldogs' NCAA national champion relay teams in the 4x200-yard relay event and one national champion relay team in the 4x100 freestyle relay, along with the NCAA team titles in 2013 and 2014. She earned NCAA All American honors 17 times throughout her college career.

2012 London Olympics

At the 2012 United States Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, she placed fifth in the 200-meter freestyle event with a time of 1:57.90, thus qualifying as a member of the U.S. relay team in the 4×200-meter freestyle. Vreeland also placed thirteenth overall in the 100-meter freestyle race with a time of 54.87 seconds. At the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, she earned a spot on the finals lineup for the 4×200-meter freestyle relay after swimming the fastest split in the team in the morning prelims, 1:57.04. She earned a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. relay team in the relay, together with

Missy Franklin Melissa Franklin Johnson (née Franklin; born May 10, 1995) is an American former competitive swimmer and five-time Olympic gold medalist. She held the world record in the 200-meter backstroke (long course) from 2012 to 2019. As a member of the ...

Dana Vollmer Dana Whitney Vollmer (born November 13, 1987) is a former American competition swimmer, five-time Olympic gold medalist, and former world record-holder. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, she won a gold medal as a member of the winning United States ...

and

Allison Schmitt Allison Rodgers Schmitt (born June 7, 1990) is an American competition swimmer who specializes in freestyle events. She is a four-time Olympian and a ten-time Olympic medalist. In her Olympic debut at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Sc ...

. She split 1:56.85 on the third leg of the relay. The first-place Americans set a new

Olympic record Olympic records are the best performances in a specific event in that event's history in either the Summer Olympic Games or the Winter Olympic Games. Summer Olympics * Archery at the Summer Olympics, Archery (List of Olympic records in archery, li ...

for the event of 7:42.92.

2013 World Aquatics Championships

Vreeland qualified to swim 5 events at the

2013 World Aquatics Championships The 15th FINA World Championships (, ) were held from 20 July to 4 August in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

: 100-meter freestyle, 200-meter freestyle, 4x100-meter freestyle relay, 4x200-meter freestyle relay, and 4x100-meter medley relay. In her individual events, Vreeland finished 7th in the 200-meter freestyle and 8th in the 100-meter freestyle. Vreeland won three gold medals in all three relays. In the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, Vreeland won gold alongside Missy Franklin,

Natalie Coughlin Natalie Anne Coughlin Hall (born August 23, 1982) is an American former competition swimmer and twelve-time Olympic medalist. While attending the University of California, Berkeley, she became the first woman ever to swim the World record progre ...

, and Megan Romano. The relay team narrowly out touched Australia at 3:32.31, a new American record. This was the first time the U.S. women had won the 4x100-meter freestyle relay since 2003. Vreeland split a 1:56.97 on her leg in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay, in which the U.S. team of Vreeland, Franklin,

Katie Ledecky Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky ( ; born March 17, 1997) is an American competitive Swimming (sport), swimmer. She is the List of individual gold medalists in swimming at the Olympics and World Aquatics Championships (women)#Title leaders, most deco ...

, and Karlee Bispo touched first at 7:45.14, nearly two seconds ahead of second-place team Australia. Vreeland ended her meet by swimming the freestyle leg in the morning heats of the 4x100-meter medley relay. She received a gold medal when the finals lineup of Franklin, Jessica Hardy, Vollmer, and Romano won.

2014 Pan Pacific Championships

Vreeland won a medal of each color at the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships in Gold Coast,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. She earned a bronze medal in the individual 200-meter freestyle with a 1:57.38, out-touching fourth-place finisher Melanie Schlanger by one-hundredth of a second. Alongside

Simone Manuel ] Simone Ashley Manuel (born August 2, 1996) is an American professional Swimming (sport), swimmer specializing in Freestyle swimming, freestyle events. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, 2016 Rio Olympics, she won two gold and two silver medals: gold ...

, Missy Franklin, and Abbey Weitzeil, Vreeland earned a silver medal in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay. Additionally, Vreeland earned a gold medal leading off the 4x200-meter freestyle relay. With Franklin, Leah Smith, and Katie Ledecky, the relay team touched first at 7:46.40, a new championship record.

2016 Olympic Trials

After battling an agonizing shoulder injury for several months, Vreeland swam her final races at the 2016 United States Olympic Trials, the U.S. qualifying meet for the Rio Olympics. She swam three events, the 100-, 200-, and 400-meter freestyle events. She qualified for the semifinals for both the 100- and 200-meter freestyles, but finished 13th in the 100-meter freestyle and 15th in the 200-meter freestyle. Since she didn't qualify for the Olympic team, Vreeland decided to retire and prepare for law school in the coming fall.

Personal best times

References

External links

* * * * *
Shannon Vreeland – University of Georgia athlete profile at GeorgiaDogs.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vreeland, Shannon 1991 births Living people American female freestyle swimmers Georgia Bulldogs women's swimmers Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming Sportspeople from Overland Park, Kansas Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics American twins World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Summer World University Games medalists in swimming FISU World University Games gold medalists for the United States FISU World University Games silver medalists for the United States FISU World University Games bronze medalists for the United States Medalists at the 2015 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2011 Summer Universiade 21st-century American sportswomen