Catherine Mai-Lan Fox (born December 15, 1977) 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 ...

who won two gold medals at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. She is of Vietnamese and European descent. Her father, Thomas C. Fox (editor and former publisher of the '' National Catholic Reporter''), worked in Vietnam for

International Voluntary Services International Voluntary Services (IVS) was an American private nonprofit 501(c)3 organization that placed volunteers in humanitarian and development projects overseas. It operated from its founding in 1953 to its dissolution in 2002. It placed vo ...

from 1966 to 1968, where he met Catherine's mother, To Kim Hoa, a social worker in Can Tho who married Fox and moved to the United States in 1972. Fox grew up in Roeland Park, Kansas, attended high school at Bishop Miege and graduated from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, majoring in human biology and studio art. Fox competed at the

1995 Pan American Games File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

and was a member of the gold medal-winning 4×200-meter freestyle relay team. She made the U.S. Olympic team for the

in Atlanta as a freestyle swimmer, and was a member of two gold-winning relay teams: the 4×100-meter freestyle (where she swam in the final) and the 4×100-meter medley (where she swam freestyle in a preliminary heat). Fox won a gold medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay, and bronze medals in the 100-meter freestyle and 100-meter backstroke, at the

1997 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships The seventh edition of the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, a long course (50 m) event, was held in Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefectu ...

. At Stanford, Fox was a 21-time All-American in swimming, a nine-time NCAA champion, and set an American record in the 100-yard backstroke in 1999 with a time of 52.47 seconds. In 2006, she was named to the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.Kansas Sports Hall of Fame

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Catherine 1977 births Living people American female backstroke swimmers American female freestyle swimmers American sportswomen American sportspeople of Vietnamese descent Bishop Miege High School alumni Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States People from Roeland Park, Kansas Sportspeople of Vietnamese descent Stanford Cardinal women's swimmers Swimmers at the 1995 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Pan American Games medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games

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