- Catherine Fox
Catherine Mai Lan Fox (born
December 15 ,1977 ) is an Americanswimmer who won two gold medals at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.She is of Vietnamese and American ethnicity. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3883/is_199806/ai_n8806286 Mike DeArmond, "Free Spirit", Swimming World, June 1998] ] Her father, Thomas C. Fox (former editor and publisher of the
National Catholic Reporter ), worked in Vietnam for International Voluntary Services from 1966 to 1968, where he met Catherine's mother, To Kim Hoa, a social worker inCan Tho who married Mr. Fox and moved to the United States in 1972.Fox grew up in
Roeland Park, Kansas , attended high school at Bishop Meige and graduated fromStanford University , majoring in human biology and studio art. [ [http://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/w-swim/mtt/fox_catherine00.html Women's Swimming & Diving - Stanford University Official Athletic Site ] ]Fox competed at the
1995 Pan American Games and was a member of the gold medal-winning 4x200 freestyle relay team. She made the U.S. Olympic team for the Atlanta Games as a freestyle swimmer, and was a member of two gold-winning relay teams: the 400-meter freestyle (where she swam in the final) and the 400-meter medley (where she swam freestyle in a preliminary heat). Fox won a gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle relay, and bronze medals in the 100-meter freestyle and 100-meter backstroke, at the1997 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships .At Stanford, Fox was a 21-time All-American in swimming, a 9-time NCAA champion, and set an American record in the 100-yard
backstroke in 1999 with a time of 52.47 seconds. [ [http://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/w-swim/mtt/fox_catherine00.html Stanford University profile] ]Fox was the first
Asian American to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming. [ [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-18628400.html Tom Fox, "Passion, fidelity to purpose make Olympic dreams golden", National Catholic Reporter, Aug. 9, 1996] ] In 2006, she was named to the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. [ [http://www.kshof.org/hof-profiles.cfm?record_id=156 Kansas Sports Hall of Fame ] ]References
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