Allison Schmitt

At 34 years old, Allison Schmitt has this physical status:

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Schmitt won a bronze medal in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay with Natalie Coughlin, Caroline Burckle and Katie Hoff. Swimming the lead-off leg, Schmitt recorded a split time of 1:57.71 and the American team finished with a time of 7:46.33, an American record. Schmitt also competed in the 200-meter freestyle, but did not advance past the semifinals, finishing in ninth place with a time of 1:58.01.

At the 2009 World Championships in Rome, Schmitt competed in three events, the 200-meter and 400-meter freestyle, and the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. In her first event, the 400-meter freestyle, Schmitt recorded the second best time in the heats with a time of 4:02.80. However, in the final she placed 4th with a time of 4:02.51. In her second event, the 200-meter freestyle, she won a silver medal finishing behind world record holder Federica Pellegrini by 1.98 seconds. Schmitt's time of 1:54.96 was good enough for the American record. In the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, she swam the final leg in 1:54.21 as the American team placed second to China. The final time of 7:42.56 was just behind China's time of 7:42.08, but was good enough for the American record.

At the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, Schmitt won a gold medal in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay with Missy Franklin, Dagny Knutson, and Katie Hoff, with the team finishing ahead of Australia and China. As the anchor leg, Schmitt had a 1:56.49 split. Schmitt also competed in the individual 200-meter freestyle and finished sixth in the final (1:56.98).

At the 2012 United States Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, the U.S. qualifying meet for the 2012 Olympics, Schmitt made the U.S. Olympic team by finishing first in the 200-meter and 400-meter freestyle, and third in the 100-meter freestyle. In the 200-meter freestyle final, Schmitt broke her own American record of 1:54.96 with a time of 1:54.40.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Schmitt won a total of five medals: three gold, one silver, and one bronze. In her first event, the 4×100-meter freestyle relay, Schmitt won bronze with Missy Franklin, Jessica Hardy and Lia Neal, with the U.S. team finishing third behind the women's relay teams from Australia and the Netherlands. Swimming the anchor leg, Schmitt had a split of 53.54 seconds and the team finished with a total time of 3:34.24, an American record. Schmitt won the first individual Olympic medal of her career, a silver, in the 400-meter freestyle, and in doing so, set the American record for the event. Her time of 4:01.77 was just 0.32 seconds behind winner Camille Muffat. In her second and last individual event, the 200-meter freestyle, Schmitt won gold while setting a new Olympic record of 1:53.61, which was also a new American record. In the race, Schmitt won by a margin of 1.97 seconds over Muffat. In the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, Schmitt earned her second gold after passing Australian Alicia Coutts and topping the field with a split of 1:54.09 as the anchor leg. Also on the winning 4×200-meter relay team were Missy Franklin, Dana Vollmer and Shannon Vreeland. In her final event, the 4×100-meter medley relay, Schmitt won gold with Missy Franklin, Rebecca Soni, and Dana Vollmer. Swimming the freestyle leg, Schmitt recorded a time of 53.25, and the American team went on to set the world record with a time of 3:52.05, bettering the Chinese-owned record of 3:52.19 set in 2009.

After missing both the 2013 World Aquatics Championships and the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, Schmitt's performance at the 2014 National Championships was enough for the 2015 Pan American Games. The Pan Am Games in Toronto marked her first international tournament since the 2012 Short-Course World Championship. Schmitt earned the gold in the 200-meter freestyle, and was a member of the teams who won the 4×200-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter medley relays, all with competition records. She also earned a silver in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.

The 2016 United States Olympic Trials saw Schmitt finishing fourth at the 200m (1:56.72), qualifying her to the relay team. Schmitt became the ninth American female swimmer to appear in three Olympics, and only she and Elizabeth Beisel were members of each team since 2008. She was named one of the captains of the U.S. Olympic Swim Team, alongside Phelps, Beisel, Nathan Adrian, Anthony Ervin, and Cammile Adams. Schmitt earned her seventh Olympic medal by taking part in the qualifying heat of the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, and during the finals the U.S. team won the silver. Schmitt earned her fourth gold medal, and eighth Olympic medal, by swimming in the finals of the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay with Leah Smith, Maya DiRado, and Katie Ledecky.

August 2018, Schmitt won a silver medal as part of the women's 4x200-meter relay at the 2018 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Tokyo, Japan swimming the first leg of the relay in a 1:58.62.

In July 2019, Schmitt competed at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. She won two silver medals, one in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay and one in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay.

On day three of the 2020 USA Swimming Olympic Trials, the 15th of June 2021, Schmitt swam in the prelims of the 200-meter freestyle, ranking 3rd for all prelims heats with a time of 1:57.84. Later in the same day, Schmitt competed in the semifinals of the same event swimming a 1:57.53, ranking 4th, and advancing to the final. During the finals on day four, she placed 2nd in the 200m freestyle with a 1:56.79, once again securing a spot on the Olympic team. Schmitt's swim qualified her for the 2020 Summer Olympics in both the 200-meter freestyle individual event and 4x200-meter freestyle relay. This was the fourth Olympic Team Schmitt qualified for.

On day five of competition, Schmitt swam in the morning prelims of the 100-meter freestyle finishing with a time of 54.78, ranking 11th, and qualifying for the semifinals. In the semifinals, Schmitt placed 6th swimming a 54.08 and qualifying for the final. She swam a 54.12 in the final, finishing in sixth place, and giving her the potential of swimming on the 4x100-meter freestyle relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics for Team USA.

Schmitt was selected to serve as a USA swim team captain at the 2020 Summer Olympics, making it the second time she had been selected to serve as an Olympic team captain and making her the only second-time American swim team captain at the 2020 Olympics.

On day one of competition at the Olympic Games, Schmitt swam in the prelims of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, helping the relay finish fifth overall and advance to the final. In the final, the relay finished third and Schmitt won a bronze medal for her efforts on the relay in the prelims.

In the prelims of the 200-meter freestyle on July 26, Schmitt qualified in 12th place for the semifinals with her time of 1:57.10. The next day, Schmitt finished tenth overall with a time of 1:56.87 in the semifinals and did not qualify for the final.

On day six of competition, Schmitt swam the first leg of the 4x200-meter freestyle relay in the final of the event and helped the relay set a new Americas record of 7:40.73 and win the silver medal. Schmitt's employment of a slow lead-off tactic, that is purposefully swimming a slower first leg of a relay to motivate the second, third, and fourth swimmers to split faster times than the first swimmer, caught the attention of People magazine who made her one of the headliners in an article published about the race as well as the USA Swimming Foundation who nominated her for a Golden Goggle Award for "Relay Performance of the Year" as part of the relay team.

Source

• 2012 Golden Goggle Award, Relay Performance of the Year: 4x100-meter freestyle relay
• 2012 SwimSwam Swammy Award, Swimmer of the Year (female)
• 2013 Honda Sports Award (Swimming & Diving)
• 2015 Golden Goggle Award, Perseverance Award
• 2019 Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.
• 2021 Golden Goggle Award nominee, Relay Performance of the Year: 4x200-meter freestyle relay