Misty Dawn Marie Hyman (born March 23, 1979) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic gold medalist, and former world record-holder. Hyman won the gold medal in the women's 200-meter butterfly 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 1 ...

in Sydney. In March 1996, she just missed making the U.S. Olympic team for the 1996 Games, finishing third and fourth at the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 100- and 200-meter butterfly events. Hyman competed as a member of the U.S.

Finswimming Finswimming is an underwater sport consisting of four techniques involving swimming with the use of fins either on the water's surface using a snorkel with either monofins or bifins or underwater with monofin either by holding one's breath or ...

Team at the 8th World Championship held in Hungary during August 1996. At the

in Sydney, Australia, Hyman was only expected to contend for silver in women's 200-meter butterfly on the night of September 20, 2000, as Australian

Susie O'Neill Susan O'Neill, (born 2 August 1973) is an Australian former competitive swimmer from Brisbane, Queensland, nicknamed "Madame Butterfly". She achieved eight Olympic Games medals during her swimming career. Early life Susan (Susie) O'Neill was ...

was expected to repeat her title (O'Neill had been undefeated in the 200-meter butterfly for the previous 6 years; and was swimming in her home country). Hyman was so shocked that she looked at the scoreboard three times just to make sure that she had won. Hyman's victory was largely credited to her expert use of the very difficult

fish kick The fish kick is a method of kicking while swimming, generally used underwater. It was pioneered by the American Misty Hyman and has been cited as possibly the fastest stroke for humans. Procedure and effectiveness Fish kicking is a form of u ...

on turns. Also in 2000, Hyman was ranked 35th in the world in the 50-meter butterfly, twelfth in the 100-meter butterfly, and second in the 200-meter butterfly.

Personal

Hyman graduated from

Shadow Mountain High School Shadow Mountain High School is a public high school located in the north valley of Phoenix, Arizona. The school is part of the Paradise Valley Unified School District. The school's athletic teams are known as the Matadors. Shadow Mountain's schoo ...

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

. She attended

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 ...

, where she swam for the

Stanford Cardinal 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 ...

swimming and diving team with

Jessica Foschi Jessica Kate Foschi (born 1980) is an American former competition swimmer. Early life and education Foschi is from Old Brookville, New York, and started swimming competitively at five years old at the Long Island Athletic Club. By the age of 12 ...

. During this time, she befriended Chelsea Clinton, who was watching in the stands in Sydney when Hyman won gold. She twice received the

Honda Sports Award The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in th ...

for Swimming and Diving, recognizing her as the outstanding college female swimmer of the year in 1997–98 and again in 2000–01. She graduated from Stanford in 2002 and earned an MBA in Hospitality at Les Roches University in Switzerland. In 2009, Hyman returned to Shadow Mountain High School and was appointed the Head Swim Coach. She would later be awarded the "Coach of the Year" award later that season. Hyman switched to part-time coaching at SMHS in 2011. Hyman swam at AFOX under head coach and swim improver Bob Gillett. He was not there to see her swim, but her performance in the "golden" swim is among his biggest accomplishments. In 1984, Hyman was diagnosed with

asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, cou ...

. On November 19, 2009, it was announced that Hyman would be teaching private swim instructions as a part of the fitness team at the Sanctuary on Camelback Resort. Now, she has built her own pool and teaches there as well as the Sanctuary in her home state of Arizona in Paradise Valley, working with people at all levels of performance ability. In 2015, Hyman was named an assistant coach at Arizona State University's swimming and diving team.

References

External links

* *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyman, Misty 1979 births Living people American female backstroke swimmers American female butterfly swimmers World record setters in swimming Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming Sportspeople from Mesa, Arizona Sportspeople from Phoenix, Arizona Stanford Cardinal women's swimmers Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Finswimmers Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics 21st-century American women

Personal

See also

References

External links