Olympic Gold Medalist Amanda Beard Officially Joins the Arizona Swimming Staff

It’s official: three weeks after reports of Amanda Beard‘s pending hiring at the University began circulating, the school announced the hiring of the legendary Olympic swimmer on Tuesday.

“This is incredibly exciting and significant for Arizona Swimming & Diving,” head coach Augie Busch said. “Amanda’s legendary athletic career speaks for itself. She is one of the all-time great Wildcats and an all-time great in the sport. I believe she has equal potential in teaching and coaching at this level. We are blessed and thrilled to have her back in Tucson.”

“I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to join the University of Arizona Swimming & Diving family,” Beard said. “It is an honor to be invited back into a program that was home to me and helped me during a very important part of my career. I know the dedication and hard work it takes to achieve success in the pool and I am excited to share my knowledge with the swimmers at Arizona.”

Beard became a swimming icon at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, often seen with her teddy bear behind the blocks and even on the medal stand. There, she won 2 gold and 2 silver medals.

She won another bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics before beginning her collegiate career at the University of Arizona. She swam there for two seasons, winning an NCAA title in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2001.

She then swam at the 2004 Olympic Games, breaking the World Record in the 200 breaststroke. She also added silvers in the 200 IM and the 400 medley relay to bring her career total to 7.

Beard would make the 2008 US Olympic Team, where she was elected co-captain with Dara Torres and Natalie Coughlin, placing 18th. She would briefly retire after her 4th Olympics before mounting a comeback in 2010. She would finish 5th at the 2012 Olympic Trials in the 200 breaststroke, missing the team and returning to retirement.

Besides her 7 Olympic medals, Beard has 7 World Championship medals, including a 2003 long course gold in the 200 breaststroke.

Beard, now 41, doesn’t list much coaching experience on her public profiles, but in 2015 she opened a swim school in Gig Harbor, Washington. She also spent time as a spokesperson and a model, as a correspondent for the Fox Sports talk program The Best Damn Sports Show Period, and wrote an autobiography titled In the Water They Can’t See You Cry: A Memoir.

During her first retirement, Beard gave birth to her first child, Blaire Ray Brown, in 2009 with her husband, photographer Sacha Brown. Their daughter, Doone Isla Brown, was born in 2013.

After the departure of Clif Robbins and Anna Heller shortly after the NCAA Championships, Arizona has one remaining position to bring its coaching staff to the same size as it was last season. The staff is taking shape in the mold of the program’s glory days in the 2000s, when Augie Busch’s dad Frank Busch led the team to dual NCAA titles in 2008. Besides Augie, the head coach, the staff also includes Lara Jackson, who swam at Arizona under Frank, and Roric Fink, who returned to the program last season after seven seasons as Frank’s assistant from 2003-2010.