Megan M. Jendrick ( Quann, born January 15, 1984) is an American former competition
swimmer, former world record-holder, and fitness columnist. She won two gold medals at the
2000 Summer Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...
and a silver medal at the
2008 Summer Olympics. Jendrick set 27 American records and four world records in her swimming career. She is a 13-time national champion, ten-time U.S. Open champion, seven-time masters world record-holder, and fifteen-time U.S. Masters national record-holder. Jendrick is married to American author Nathan Jendrick.
Career
Jendrick first made her mark on the swimming world in 1998. During the course of that year, she took 3rd in the 100-meter breaststroke at the national championships held in
Clovis, California
Clovis is a city in Fresno County, California, United States. The 2020 population was 120,124. Clovis is located northeast of downtown Fresno, at an elevation of 361 feet (110 m).
History
The city of Clovis began as a freight stop along the ...
, and later captured her first national championship in that same event during the nationals held in
Minneapolis, Minnesota. In Minnesota, she was presented the
Phillips 66 Performance Award.
At the U.S. Open that same year, in
College Station, Texas
College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, Brazos County, Texas, situated in East-Central Texas in the heart of the Brazos Valley, towards the eastern edge of the region known as the Texas Triangle. It is northwest of Houston and east-n ...
, Jendrick won both the 100 and 200-meter breaststrokes. In the 100-meter event, she broke the 50-meter American record at the 50-meter split of the race—a rare feat—and her final time of 1:07.14 broke the American record that had been held by Olympian
Tracy Caulkins
Tracy Anne Stockwell, OAM, (born January 11, 1963), née Tracy Anne Caulkins, is an American former competition swimmer, three-time Olympic gold medalist, five-time world champion, and former world record-holder in three events.
Caulkins was ...
for 17 years. To round out her year, Jendrick would win a gold (400-meter medley relay) and a bronze (100-meter breaststroke) at the
Goodwill Games in New York.
In 2000, Jendrick was the youngest medalist on the U.S. Olympic swim team and second-youngest athlete overall (only
Michael Phelps
Michael Fred Phelps II (born June 30, 1985) is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold med ...
was younger). Jendrick went on to win gold medals in the 100-meter breaststroke (setting an American record) and 4×100-meter medley relay (setting a World record), and subsequently she was featured on the cover of ''Sports Illustrated'' magazine, becoming one of a small number of women to be honored as such. Jendrick has additionally been featured on covers of newspapers such as ''
The Seattle Times
''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington ...
'', ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
,'' and ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...
''.
At the 2001 World Championships in
Fukuoka
is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since anc ...
, Japan, Jendrick earned a silver medal on the 4×100-meter medley relay.
After failing to make the 2004 Athens Olympic team, missing qualifying by eleven one-hundredths of a second, Jendrick retired from swimming. Shortly thereafter, she was inducted into the Pacific Northwest Swimming Hall of Fame, class of 2004.
After coming out of retirement, Jendrick was the star of the 2005
World University Games in
Izmir, Turkey, winning three gold medals and setting two University Games records. At those games, she was the only American woman to capture individual gold in two events. Jendrick was only the second woman to swim the 100-yard breaststroke in under a minute and was also the second woman in history to swim the 100-yard breaststroke in under 59 seconds.
In 2006, Jendrick was the subject of a question on the December 6 episode of the game show ''
Jeopardy!
''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given gene ...
''. The question for $1,600 was under the subject "12 Letter Words" and read, "In the 2000 Summer Olympics, the USA's Megan Quann swam the 100m in this event in 1:07.05 to win gold."
In 2007, Jendrick won the silver medal in the 200-meter breaststroke at the
12th FINA World Championships.
On July 1, 2008, Jendrick qualified for the 2008 U.S. Olympic team in the 100-meter breaststroke, eight years after winning gold in the event at the
2000 Summer Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...
in
Sydney, Australia. With the disqualification of
Jessica Hardy, who was dropped from the team after testing positive for a banned substance (
clenbuterol
Clenbuterol is a sympathomimetic amine used by sufferers of breathing disorders as a decongestant and bronchodilator. People with chronic breathing disorders such as asthma use this as a bronchodilator to make breathing easier. It is most commonl ...
), Jendrick was officially the winner of the event at the U.S. Olympic Trials. In
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
, Jendrick silenced many critics by making the final of the 100-meter breaststroke—ultimately finishing in fifth place—and capturing a silver medal as part of the 4×100-meter medley relay. Competing under her married name Megan Jendrick (she competed as Megan Quann in 2000), she became only the third person to win Olympic swimming medals under two different names and just the second American to do so. The first was Eleanor Garatti (later Saville) in 1928 and 1932, the second was
Libby Lenton
Lisbeth Constance Trickett, OAM (; born 28 January 1985) is a retired Australian swimmer. She was a gold medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics, the 2008 Summer Olympics, and the 2012 Summer Olympics. She was the world record holder in the shor ...
(later Trickett) in 2004 and 2008.
On July 25, 2009, Jendrick set the 27th American record of her career, this time in unusual fashion. Taking out a 200-meter breaststroke final, she raced her first 50 in 30.40 seconds, beating the 30.63 record that had been held by Jessica Hardy since 2007.
In 2012, just seven months after giving birth to her first child, Jendrick competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials. In 2013, she swam at the U.S. National Championships, winning bronze in the 50-meter breaststroke. On September 24, 2013, Jendrick announced her retirement from international swimming.
Personal
Jendrick graduated from
Emerald Ridge High School in
Puyallup, Washington
Puyallup ( or ) is a city in Pierce County, Washington, United States, located about 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Tacoma and 35 miles (56 km) south of Seattle. It had a population of 42,973 at the 2020 census. The city's name comes from th ...
. Jendrick attended
Pacific Lutheran University
Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) is a private Lutheran university in Parkland, Washington. It was founded by Norwegian Lutheran immigrants in 1890. PLU is sponsored by the 580 congregations of Region I of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ame ...
in
Parkland, Washington, before enrolling at, and graduating from,
Arizona State University.
In December 2004, Jendrick married author Nathan Jendrick. Jendrick is still often listed as Quann or Quann-Jendrick but she has said that her legal and professional name is Megan Jendrick and that the hyphenated version is not correct.
In 2006, Jendrick was honored as the female recipient of the Henry Iba Citizen Athlete Award, with the male honoree that year being former
NFL quarterback
Drew Bledsoe
Drew McQueen Bledsoe (born February 14, 1972) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, primarily with the New England Patriots. He played college football at Washington State, whe ...
. She was also nominated that same year for a Golden Goggle Award, the highest honor outside of swimming an American aquatic athlete may receive. To date, she is a two-time nominee. From the Iba Award, Jendrick donated $10,000 to Children's Hospital in Seattle.
In late 2008, Jendrick began writing a weekly fitness question and answer column on the Advanced Research Press publication website, FitnessRxMag.com.
Late in 2011, Jendrick gave birth to a son named Daethan. In 2014, the Jendricks welcomed a daughter, Sydney.
In 2019, Jendrick was inducted to the Washington State Sports Hall of Fame.
Jendrick and her family live in
Buckley, Washington
Buckley is a city in Pierce County, Washington, United States, founded in 1882. The population was 5,114 at the 2020 census. Buckley sits below Mount Rainier and is well known for hosting the annual Log Show.
Geography
Buckley is located at (4 ...
.
Megan Jendrick to teach young swimmers at Fife Swim Center , ZwemZa
Retrieved 2018-12-15.
See also
* List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)
This is the complete list of women's Olympic medalists in swimming.
Current program
50 metre freestyle
100 metre freestyle
200 metre freestyle
400 metre freestyle
800 metre freestyle
1500 metre freestyle
100 metre backstroke
2 ...
* List of Pacific Lutheran University alumni
* List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (women)
* World record progression 4 × 100 metres medley relay
This article includes the world record progression for the 4×100 metres medley relay, and it shows the chronological history of world record times in that competitive swimming event. The 4×100 metres medley relay is a medley race in which each o ...
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
Olympic gold winner takes time out from studies to train for Summer Olympics
Henry P. Iba Citizen Athlete Past Honorees
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jendrick, Megan
1984 births
Living people
American female breaststroke swimmers
World record setters in swimming
Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming
Olympic silver medalists for the United States in swimming
Pacific Lutheran University alumni
Sportspeople from Puyallup, Washington
Sportspeople from Tacoma, Washington
Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics
World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming
Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Universiade medalists in swimming
People from Bonney Lake, Washington
Universiade gold medalists for the United States
Medalists at the 2005 Summer Universiade
Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games
21st-century American women