Rebecca Soni

Rebecca Soni (born March 18, 1987) is an American former competition swimmer and breaststroke specialist who is a six-time Olympic medalist.

She is a former world record-holder in the 100-meter breaststroke (short and long course) and the 200-meter breaststroke (short and long course), and is the first woman to swim the 200-meter breaststroke in under 2 minutes 20 seconds.

As a 17-year-old at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Soni finished 15th overall in the 100-meter breaststroke and 11th overall in the 200-meter breaststroke.

Soni is a 2005 graduate of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North in Plainsboro Township, New Jersey.

She held many school records and leads the school and state in many swimming strokes.

The following year, at the 2005 World Championship Trials, Soni just missed a spot on the 2005 World Aquatic team after finishing third in the 200-meter breaststroke behind Tara Kirk and Kristen Caverly.

Soni also placed fourth in the 100-meter breaststroke.

At the 2005 Summer Universiade, Soni earned her first international medals by winning silver in the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke and gold in the 4×100-meter medley relay.

In July 2006 she had a cardiac ablation.

At USC, Soni was a six-time NCAA Champion, having won the 200-yard breaststroke in 2006 through 2009 and the 100-yard breaststroke in 2008 and 2009.

At the 2006 World Short Course Championships, Soni finished in 4th place in the 200-meter breaststroke.

Just a few weeks before the 2006 National Championships, Soni underwent a procedure called radiofrequency ablation to help regulate her heartbeat.

Although it was not health-threatening, Soni would sometimes experience a high heart rate which sometimes interfered with her training.

At the 2006 National Championships, the selection meet for the 2006 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships and the 2007 World Aquatics Championships, Soni finished tenth overall in both the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke.

Soni earned her berth by being the swimmer already on the team with the fastest time in the event since January 1, 2006.

In the 200-meter breaststroke, Soni won with a time of 2:22.60, the third-fastest finish as of that date.

She burst onto the international scene at the 2008 Summer Olympics where she won two silver medals and one gold.

In the 200-meter breaststroke at the Olympics, she set the world record en route to winning gold, shocking Australian favorite Leisel Jones.

At the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Soni competed in two events, the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke.

In the 100-meter breaststroke, Soni finished fourth in a time of 1:07.80.

Usually, the top two finishers would qualify for the Olympics.

However, after second-place finisher Jessica Hardy withdrew from the team due to a doping violation and third-place finisher Tara Kirk missed the entry deadline, Soni was chosen to swim the event.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Soni won a silver medal in the 100-meter breaststroke, finishing behind world record holder Leisel Jones of Australia 1:06.73 to 1:05.17.

In the 200-meter breaststroke, Soni upset the heavily favored Jones, winning the gold medal and breaking Jones's world record with a time of 2:20.22.

Jones finished second with a time of 2:22.05.

After the race, Soni said, "It's been a long road to get here, I can't believe what just happened."

Soni then combined with Natalie Coughlin, Christine Magnuson, and Dara Torres in the 4×100-meter medley relay to finish second behind Australia.

Soni had the second best split time in the field (1:05.95) behind Jones (1:04.58).

At the 2009 National Championships Soni competed in two events, the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke.

She was named Swimming World's World Swimmer of the Year award in 2010 and 2011, and the American Swimmer of the Year award in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Soni was born in Freehold, New Jersey, U.S. Her father Peter is of Hungarian-Jewish descent; his family and him emigrated from Cluj-Napoca, Transilvania (now in Romania), from which their families had been deported during World War II.

Her Jewish paternal grandfather Poli Schoenberg survived the Auschwitz concentration camp, whereas his parents lost their lives in the Holocaust.

Her father's first marriage was to an American woman, whom he met during his studies, they resided together in the United States, but eventually had a divorce.

Her mother Kinga is her father's second marriage.

She also has distant relatives in Israel.

In August 2010, Soni became a spokeswoman for the United Nations Foundation's Girl Up campaign.

The organization focuses on improving the lives of the world's adolescent girls.

As a member of the U.S. national team, she held the world record in the 4×100-meter medley relay from 2012 to 2017 (long course).

Soni has won a total of twenty-two medals in major international competition, fourteen gold, seven silver, and one bronze spanning the Olympics, the World, the Universiade, and the Pan Pacific Championships.

Four years later at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Soni successfully defended her Olympic title in the 200-meter breaststroke in world record time, becoming the first woman to do so in the event.