Australian Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe won the most gold medals of any Australian athlete, and was the youngest to win a world championship. He went on to win 10 more.

Dana Vollmer is a swimmer and four-time Olympic gold medalist. She set the world record for the 100-meter butterfly at the London Olympics in 2012, and won three gold medals there.

American swimmer Mark Spitz set a world record at the 1972 Olympic Games, when he won seven gold medals across individual and team events.

Simone Manuel became the first African-American swimmer to win an individual Olympic gold medal with her record-setting performance at the 2016 Rio Games.

South Korean swimming champion Park Tae-Hwan became the first Korean to win a medal in swimming, as well as the first Asian swimmer to win a gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle, at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

Gymnast Olga Korbut represented the U.S.S.R. in the 1972 and 1976 Olympics, winning several gold and silver medals for the Soviet team.

In 1960, Wilma Rudolph became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field at a single Olympics.

Michael Phelps shared his personal struggle with anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts at a mental health conference. The Olympic swimmer said his first major depression was in 2004, which was around the time he was charged with his first DUI.

Surfing icon Duke Kahanamoku (1890–1968) was an Olympic swimmer, film actor and sheriff of Honolulu, Hawaii.