Jessica Hardy

Jessica Adele Hardy Meichtry (born March 12, 1987 ) is an American competitive swimmer who specializes in breaststroke and freestyle events.

Hardy was born in Orange, California, in 1987, the daughter of George Hardy and Denise Robinson.

Her mother swam collegiately for Indiana State University for one week and is currently a psychotherapist.

She is a 2005 graduate of Wilson Classical High School in Long Beach and was Swimming World's Female High School Swimmer of the Year in 2004 and 2005.

Hardy attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she competed for coach Teri McKeever's California Golden Bears swim team for two years.

She was a four-time NCAA Champion, and met her husband Dominik Meichtry, a Swiss swimmer and 3-time Olympian, at Berkeley.

At the 2005 World Aquatics Championships, a long course meet, Hardy competed in two individual breaststroke events and in the 4×100-meter medley relay.

She won silver in all of those events.

Hardy broke Leisel Jones' world record in the semifinals of the 100-meter breaststroke on July 25 before ultimately finishing second in the finals two days later.

In the 4×100-meter medley relay, on July 30, Hardy won a silver medal with Natalie Coughlin, Rachel Komisarz, and Amanda Weir.

On July 31, Hardy placed second in the 50-meter breaststroke, finishing behind Jade Edmistone of Australia.

At the 2006 Short Course World Championships in Shanghai, Hardy competed in two individual breaststroke events and swam in the heats of the 4×100-meter medley relay.

At the conclusion of the meet, she won a silver and bronze medal.

In the 50-meter breaststroke on April 6, Hardy won a bronze medal, finishing behind Jade Edmistone and Brooke Hanson of Australia.

Hardy then competed in the heats of the 4×100-meter medley relay (with Mary Mohler, Elaine Breeden, and Amanda Weir) on April 7, and won a silver medal after the United States placed second in the finals.

On April 8, Hardy finished in fourth place in the 100-meter breaststroke.

She gave up her eligibility and turned professional in 2007, to train with coach Dave Salo for Trojan Swim Club of the University of Southern California.

At the 2007 World Aquatics Championships, a long course meet, Hardy competed in two individual breaststroke events and in the 4×100-meter medley relay.

She won a gold and silver medal at this competition.

In her first event, the 100-meter breaststroke, on March 27, Hardy placed fourth.

Hardy then swam in the heats of the 4×100-meter medley relay (with Leila Vaziri, Dana Vollmer, and Amanda Weir) on March 31, and won a silver medal after the United States placed second in the finals.

On April 1, Hardy won the gold in the 50-meter breaststroke.

From 2008 to 2009, Hardy served a 12 month suspension from swimming competition due to an anti-doping rule violation at the 2008 Olympic Trials.

She maintained her innocence, stating that tainted supplements resulted in the positive test.

At the 2008 Short Course World Championships in Manchester, England, Hardy won a total of three gold medals.

In her first event, the 50-meter breaststroke, on April 10, Hardy won gold with a world record time of 29.58.

In the 4×100-meter medley, on April 11, Hardy teamed with Margaret Hoelzer, Rachel Komisarz, and Kara Denby to win gold in a world record time of 3:51.36.

Going into the final of the 100-meter breaststroke, Hardy was the clear favorite for gold.

She topped the heats with a time of 1:05.31 and broke the championship record in the semifinals with a time of 1:04.63 both on April 11.

In the final of the 100-meter breaststroke, on April 12, Hardy won gold with a time of 1:04.22, and broke her own championship record.

At the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Hardy qualified for the USA Olympic Team.

Hardy returned to competition in 2009, setting new long course world records in the 50-meter breaststroke and 100-meter breaststroke at the 2009 U.S. Open Swimming Championships.

Hardy earned a bronze medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle and a gold medal in the 4×100-meter medley relays at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

She has won a total of twenty-eight medals in major international competition, fourteen gold, nine silver, and five bronze spanning the Olympics, World and the Pan Pacific Championships.

She married Dominik Meichtry on October 5, 2013.

In 2015, she released an autobiography, titled Swimming Toward the Gold Lining: How Jessica Hardy Turned Her Wounds Into Wisdom.

The book "covers her journey from trials to triumph, from wounds to wisdom, and from setbacks to comebacks. You know her name, but you won’t know her true story until you’ve read [the] book. "

She also has a long history of philanthropy work with organizations such as the USA Swimming Foundation, the Jessie Rees Foundation, the Special Olympics, Surf Aid International, the Long Beach Water Department, and volunteering as an athlete representative on the Olympic Internal Operations Committee, the USA Swimming Steering Committee, and the USA Swimming Athletes’ Executive Committee.

In 2016, she announced that she would now be training with Mark Schubert at the Golden West Swim Club in Huntington Beach, CA. She also completed her Bachelors of Science degree from Arizona State University in 2016.

In September 2017, the couple announced that they were expecting their first child, to be born in the spring of 2018.