Summer Elisabeth Sanders (born October 13, 1972) is an American

sports commentator In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

reporter A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

television personality Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

, 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 ...

and Olympic champion from 1992.

Early life

Sanders was born in Roseville, California, and attended Cavitt Junior High School and

Oakmont High School Oakmont High School is located at 1710 Cirby Way, in Roseville, California, United States. The school is surrounded by the communities of Citrus Heights, Rocklin, Granite Bay, and Antelope. It is one of five comprehensive high schools in the Ro ...

Swimming career

By age three, Sanders could swim a lap of the pool. She wanted to be just like her older brother Trevor, so in 1976 she joined the Sugar Bears – an age-group swimming program in Roseville, California, coached by Mike Barsotti, Scott Winter and Scott O'Conner. From there she jumped to the Sierra Aquatic Club with coach Ralph Thomas, and finally to California Capital Aquatics under coach Mike Hastings. At age 15, Sanders drew real attention from the swimming world when she barely missed earning a spot on the 1988 Olympic Team, finishing third in the 200-meter individual medley. In her first international meet, she won a silver medal in the 200 individual medley behind Lin Li of China at the 1989 Pan Pacific Championships. At the 1991 Pan Pacific Championships, she won the 400-meter individual medley (beating Lin Li) and the 200-meter butterfly. In 1991, Sanders enrolled at Stanford University to swim under Hall of Fame coach

Richard Quick Richard Walter Quick (January 31, 1943 – June 10, 2009) was the head coach of the women's swim team at Stanford University, from 1988 through 2005. He was a coach for the United States Olympic swimming team for six Olympics—1984, 1988, 1992 ...

. In her two-year collegiate swimming career, Sanders won eight NCAA National Championship titles, including the 200-yard butterfly, 200-yard individual medley and 400-yard individual medley and the 4x100-yard medley relay. She won back-to-back NCAA Swimmer of the Year titles and helped her Cardinal team win the 1992 NCAA National Championships. She was the recipient of 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 1991–92. Sanders won three medals at the 1991 World Championships in Perth, Australia, taking gold in the 200-meter butterfly, silver in the 200-meter individual medley, and bronze in the 400-meter individual medley. She then became the first American woman since Hall of Famer

Shirley Babashoff Shirley Frances Babashoff (born January 31, 1957) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in multiple events. Babashoff set six world records and earned a total of nine Olympic medals in her c ...

(1976) to qualify for four individual events at one Olympiad at the 1992 Olympic Trials. At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, Sanders won four Olympic medals—gold in the 200-meter

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

with a time of 2:08.67, gold in the 400-meter medley relay, silver in the 200-meter individual medley, and a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

in the 400-meter individual medley.

Achievements

*1992 Olympic Games: gold (200m butterfly), gold (4 × 100 m medley relay – preliminary heat), silver (200m IM), bronze (400m IM), 6th (100m butterfly) *1991 World Championships: gold (200m butterfly), silver (200m IM), bronze (400m IM) *8 United States National Championships: 2-100y butterfly, 2-200y butterfly, 1-200y IM, 2-400y IM, 1-200m IM *9 NCAA National Championships: 2-200y butterfly, 2-200y IM, 2-400y IM, 1-4x50y medley relay, 1-4x100y medley relay, 1-4x100y freestyle relay *1991 Pan-Pacific Championships: gold (200m IM, 400m IM, 200m butterfly) *1989 Pan-Pacific Championships: silver (200m IM)

Television work

Sanders began working on television while still competing. In 1992 and 1994 she was a commentator for

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W 5 ...

for the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Swimming Championships. In 1996, she was a commentator for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

's coverage of swimming at the

Atlanta 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 acted as an Olympic analyst and host for NBC during the 1996, 2000, 2002 and 2010 Olympic Games, being a Today Show special contributor from 2000-2004 and contributed to the network's coverage of the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

in Salt Lake City as an on-site reporter. She was also the host of ''Scholastic at the Olympic Games'' on

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

in 2000. Summer spent eight years co-hosting ''NBA Inside Stuff'' with Ahmad Rashad, being a sideline reporter for the WNBA (

Lifetime Lifetime may refer to: * Life expectancy, the length of time a person is expected to remain alive Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Lifetime (band), a rock band from New Jersey * ''Life Time'' (Rollins Band album), by Rollins Band * ...

, 1997–1999; NBC, 1999–2002) and a feature correspondent for ''NBA on NBC'' from 2000–2002. She covered

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

as a reporter for United States's coverage of the U.S. Open in 2000 and 2001, and was co-host of CBS' coverage of "

Arthur Ashe Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) was an American professional tennis player who won three Grand Slam singles titles. He started to play tennis at six years old. He was the first black player selected to the Unite ...

Kid's Day" at the Open from 2000 to 2006. Sanders has appeared in many programs as correspondent, co-host, and host. Highlights include

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

, who named her their "commissioner" for the

Nick GAS Nickelodeon Games and Sports for Kids (stylized as Nick GaS and commonly known as Nick GAS) was an American cable television network that was part of MTV Networks' suite of digital cable channels. The channel was available to all digital cable pr ...

channel in 1998, after being the first female host of a Nickelodeon game show, ''

Figure It Out ''Figure It Out'' is an American children's panel game show that aired on Nickelodeon. The original series, hosted by Summer Sanders, ran for four seasons from July 7, 1997, to December 12, 1999. The show was revived in 2012, with Jeff Sutphen ...

'' (1997–1999), co-hosting for

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's ''Sandblast'' in 1994, and hosting the syndicated series ''US Olympic Gold'' (2002–2005), ''

Beg, Borrow & Deal ''Beg, Borrow & Deal'' is a reality television show that aired on ESPN with a first season hosted by Rich Eisen in 2002 and a second season hosted by Summer Sanders in 2003. Premise The show, which was originally called "Beg, Borrow and B.S.", ...

'' (

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, 2003),

NBA TV NBA TV is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit. Dedicated to basketball, the network features exhibition, regular ...

's ''Mind, Body & Spirit'' (2003–2004) and ''

The Sports List ''The Sports List'' is an American television news show in which Summer Sanders counted down top ten lists of various sports topics. The show was first broadcast on August 1, 2004, on Fox Sports Net (FSN) and the last episode was shown on September ...

'' (

Fox Sports Net Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by The Walt Disney Company on Mar ...

, 2004–2005). Sanders also co-hosted the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

celebrity reality series '' Skating With Celebrities'' in 2006. In 2009, Sanders began hosting ''Inside Out with Summer Sanders.'' The show, which is the first original production of

Universal Sports Universal Sports was an American sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television network. It was owned as a joint venture between InterMedia Partners (which owned a controlling 92% interest) and NBCUniversal (which owned the remaining 8%). ...

, debuted on December 23, 2009, and focuses on in-depth interviews and intimate profiles of notable Olympic athletes. She also worked as a general correspondent for ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

'' and ''

Rachael Ray Rachael Domenica Ray (born August 25, 1968) is an American cook, television personality, businesswoman, and author. She hosts the syndicated daily talk and lifestyle program ''Rachael Ray'', and the Food Network series '' 30 Minute Meals''. ...

''.Biography
on SummerSanders.net She appeared on the third season of ''

Celebrity Apprentice ''The Celebrity Apprentice'' is an American television reality competition series. It was a variation of ''The Apprentice'' series, hosted by then real estate developer (later 45th president of the United States The president of the Unite ...

'', and competed for charity. In January 2012, she was one of eight celebrities participating in the

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

reality series Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

'' Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off''. Sanders hosted the award-winning "Elite Athlete Workouts" on Yahoo!Sports and covered the 2012 Olympic Games in London for the news outlet. She currently works as a commentator on the new

Pac-12 Network The Pac-12 Network (P12N; also sometimes referred to as Pac-12 Networks) is an American sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television network owned by the Pac-12 Conference. The network's studio and production facilities are headquart ...

. Her most recent work in TV is hosting the game show ''Keywords'' for HLN.

Other media

Sanders has appeared as an actress in two films: ''

Jerry Maguire ''Jerry Maguire'' is a 1996 American romantic comedy-drama sports film written, produced, and directed by Cameron Crowe; it stars Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger, and Regina King. Produced in part by James L. Brooks, it was inspi ...

'' (1996), in which she played herself, and ''Broken Record'' (1997). In June 1999, she published the book ''Champions Are Raised, Not Born: How My Parents Made Me A Success''.

Personal life

On July 4, 1997, Sanders married Olympic swimmer Mark Henderson. The couple divorced in 2001. In July 2005, she married

Erik Schlopy Erik Schlopy (born August 21, 1972) is former World Cup alpine ski racer from the United States. Born in Buffalo, New York and raised in Hamburg, New York, he competed in three Olympics: 1994, 2002, and 2006. At the 1994 Olympics in Lillehamme ...

, a World Cup skier who competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Sanders and Schlopy have two children. She is a noted fan of the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

; her husband is a native Western New Yorker whose cousin

Todd Schlopy Robert Todd Schlopy (born June 17, 1961) is a motion picture cameraman and former American football placekicker. Born in Bradford, Pennsylvania and raised in Buffalo, NY, Schlopy attended Orchard Park High School in Orchard Park, New York. He ...

briefly played for the Bills in 1987. On June 9, 2007, Sanders' childhood home was destroyed by a fire.

References

External links

NBA Inside Stuff – Summer Sanders
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Summer 1972 births Living people American female butterfly swimmers American female medley swimmers American game show hosts American television actresses National Basketball Association broadcasters Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in swimming Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming Olympic silver medalists for the United States in swimming Olympic Games broadcasters Sportspeople from Roseville, California Oakmont High School alumni Sportspeople from Sacramento, California Stanford Cardinal women's swimmers Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Swimming commentators Tennis commentators World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Participants in American reality television series The Apprentice (franchise) contestants 20th-century American women Women sports commentators