Lea Loveless Maurer (born April 1, 1971), née Lea E. Loveless, 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 ...

, Olympic champion, and former college swimming coach. She represented the United States at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

in Barcelona, Spain, where she won a gold medal swimming the backstroke leg of the women's 4×100-meter medley relay. She also won a bronze medal in the 100-meter backstroke. She was the head coach of the

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 ...

women's swimming and diving team from 2005 to 2012.

Swimming career

Maurer was born in

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...

. Early in her career, she was coached by John Collins of the Badger Swim Club in

Larchmont, New York Larchmont is a village located within the Town of Mamaroneck in Westchester County, New York, approximately northeast of Midtown Manhattan. The population of the village was 5,864 at the 2010 census. In February 2019, Bloomberg ranked Larc ...

, a coach and team that also produced Olympic champions

Rick Carey Richard John Carey (born March 13, 1963) is an American former competition swimmer, three-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in three events. Carey specialized in the backstroke. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, ...

and

Cristina Teuscher Cristina Teuscher (born March 12, 1978) is an American former freestyle and medley swimmer who was a member of the U.S. women's relay team that won the gold medal in the 4×200-meter freestyle at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He ...

. She attended the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in 1989 and 1990, where she swam for the

Florida Gators swimming and diving The Florida Gators swimming and diving program represents the University of Florida in the aquatics sports of swimming and diving. The program includes separate men's and women's teams, both of which compete in Division I of the National Colle ...

team under coach

Randy Reese Randy Reese (born 1946) is an American college and Olympic swimming coach. Reese is best known for coaching the Florida Gators swimming and diving teams of the University of Florida to four national championships, and coaching the winners of ei ...

. She transferred to

prior to the 1992 Olympics. Lea broke the 100m backstroke American record at 100.82 at the Barcelona Olympic Games leading off the World-Record earning 1992 medley relay. Lea later won the gold at the World championships in Perth, Australia in 1998 bettering her own American Record to 100.77. In addition to her Olympic and world championship medals, Lea swam on three of Stanford's NCAA swimming championship teams in 1992, 1993 and 1994. She also won three NCAA individual championships in the 100-meter backstroke and one in the 200-meter backstroke. She continued to compete on the USA National Team until 2000.

Coaching career

Following her retirement from competitive swimming, Loveless Maurer, who is married to fellow Stanford swimmer Erik Maurer, became an assistant swimming coach at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...

. From 1995 to 2005, she coached the boys' and girls' swim teams at Lake Forest High School in

Lake Forest, Illinois Lake Forest is a city located in Lake County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 19,367. The city is along the shore of Lake Michigan, and is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the North Shore. Lake Forest ...

, during which time the girls' team won the state championship in 2002 and 2003, and the boys' team won the state championship in 2003. In 2005, she was named head coach of the Stanford women's swimming and diving team. She led the team to back-to-back

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

championships in 2010 and 2011 and resigned following the 2012 season. She was inducted into the

Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of June, 2022, Stanford's program has won 131 NCAA team championships. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 46 consecutive ...

in 2006. Maurer is now a volunteer assistant coach for the Stanford men's water polo team since spring 2013. She is a veteran celebrity swimmer for

Swim Across America Swim Across America Inc., (SAA) is a nonprofit dedicated to raising money and awareness for cancer research, prevention, and treatment. It does so by hosting charity swims and donating the proceeds to a hospital. Since its founding, SAA has gr ...

(SAA), a charitable organization that enlists former Olympic swimmers to raise funds for cancer research, and she has participated in three SAA events.Swim Across America, Olympians
Lea Loveless Maurer
Retrieved July 14, 2010. She is now the assistant head coach for the USC Trojans under Coach Kipp.

References

External links

Lea Loveless
– Olympic Games results at databaseOlympics.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Maurer, Lea 1971 births Living people American diving coaches American female backstroke swimmers American swimming coaches College swimming coaches in the United States Florida Gators women's swimmers World record setters in swimming Northwestern Wildcats swimming coaches Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in swimming Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming Sportspeople from Yonkers, New York Stanford Cardinal swimming coaches Stanford Cardinal women's swimmers Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics

Swimming career

Coaching career

See also

References

External links