Best quotes by Natalie Coughlin

Natalie Coughlin

Natalie Coughlin

American former competition swimmer and twelve-time Olympic medalist

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 100-meter backstroke (long course) in less than one minute—ten days before her 20th birthday in 2002. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she became the first U.S. female athlete in modern Olympic history to win six medals in one Olympiad, and the first woman ever to win a 100-meter backstroke gold in two consecutive Olympics. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she earned a bronze medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.

Coughlin's success has earned her the World Swimmer of the Year Award once and American Swimmer of the Year Award three times. She has won a total of sixty medals in major international competition, twenty-five gold, twenty-two silver, and thirteen bronze spanning the Olympics, the World, the Pan Pacific Championships, and the Pan American Games.

All quotes by Natalie Coughlin:

Without goals, training has no direction.

I live in a swimsuit so I'm really comfortable with my body.

I actually love swimming but I just hate jumping in the water.

Leading a healthy, active lifestyle is all about momentum. If I'm in the middle of training it's easy for me to keep that up. It gets tough when I'm on a break. I just try to start my day with a good breakfast and a quick walk, something simple that gets the day off on the right foot. The more I do that, the more I make healthy choices that reflect the good choices made earlier.

I generally wake up at 4:30, have breakfast No. 1, then get to the pool by 5 a.m.

I'm up before 5 a.m., I have breakfast, then swimming, Pilates, weight training, and physical therapy. I'm constantly going from one thing to the next. Everyone is busy, but that's my busy.

I don't have any superstitions, but what I always travel with is my pillow and my coffee.

When I was little, I wasn't so little. I had a big old round belly and I was really clumsy, but I was super confident.

There's an adage that a lot of coaches have, that I completely disagree with, is if you make the Olympic team too early you become complacent.

I very much looked up to Janet Evans and Summer Sanders.

I like to take mustard baths. I combine 4 lbs Epsom salts, 3 oz mustard powder, 12 oz powdered milk, and 1/2 cup baking soda, add in 12 drops each of rosemary and eucalyptus essential oils, then whisk it and pour 1/4 cup of the mix into the tub while warm water is running.

Cooking a fantastic meal is therapeutic. I like the entire process-the chopping, the stirring. At the end, hopefully you get to enjoy a great meal with a friend or loved one.

The pressure of the Olympic Games is real overwhelming.

Pilates is an awesome cross-training exercise for any sport because it focuses on functional movement.

I was tempted my junior year to go out of college and forgo my eligibility. I had broken several world records. I did have a lot of people telling me that I should go pro.

I hate how late we have our Olympic Trials, always have.

I was the official wedding photographer at one of my best friends' weddings. Fortunately she was one of the most easygoing brides ever, so she made it easy for me.