USOC Honors Swimmers Coughlin and Phelps and the USA Womens Water Polo Team

The U.S. Olympic Committee announced swimmers Natalie Coughlin and Michael Phelps as its March Athletes of the Month. The USOC Team of the Month was awarded to the USA Women’s World Championship Water Polo Team.

Coughlin (Vallejo, Calif.) broke her own world record en route to a gold medal in the 100m backstroke. Coughlin set the mark by swimming 59.44 in the 100m backstroke. She also made her way into the record books as a member of the women’s 800m freestyle relay that broke a world record and won gold in Melbourne. Coughlin completed the World Championships with five medals: two gold, two silver and one bronze.

Phelps (Baltimore, Md.) broke three individual world records at the FINA World Championships and won six gold medals, in the month of March. When competition concluded April 1, Phelps had seven medals, all gold (200m free, 100m fly, 200m fly, 200m IM, 400m IM, 400m free relay, 800m free relay). Phelps set a World Championship record, breaking the previous record of six medals, held by Ian Thorpe of Australia. Phelps was named Male Swimmer of the Meet for his performance.

The USA Women’s Water Polo Team went undefeated at the 2007 World Championships, winning all six of their games including three preliminary match-ups, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a gold medal round. Team USA entered the tournament ranked fourth behind World Cup champion Australia, Italy and Russia.

With their advancement to this year’s semifinals, Team USA added another medal-round finish to their rich competition history, surpassing all other women’s national water polo teams with an eighth consecutive appearance since the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Out of those eight performances, the USA Women have medaled in six of those events taking gold at the 2007 World Championships, silver at the 2000 Olympic Games, 2002 World Cup and 2005 World Championships and a bronze in the 2004 Olympic Games.

Second place for the female vote went to Elizabeth Armstrong (Ann Arbor, Mich.) a former University of Michigan All-American water polo goalkeeper. She backstopped the USA national Women’s Water Polo team to a gold medal at the FINA World Championships in Melbourne, Australia. She led the American team past host Australia, 6-5, to claim the gold. As a result of her steady performance, Armstrong was named the tournament’s outstanding goalkeeper by the FINA Federation. Armstrong recorded 12 blocks in both team USA’s 10-9 semifinal win over Hungary and in the Championship game.

Armstrong is the first athlete ever to play for a USA Water Polo World Championship team that did not attend a college inside the state of California. Armstrong was not a member of the invitation list for the U.S. team open tryouts but earned a spot on the national squad after attending tryouts 11 months ago.

Third place for the female vote went to Sheila Taormia (Colorado Springs, Colo) of Modern Pentathlon. Taormina made history for the USA Pentathlon team by becoming the first American ever to sit atop the UIPM World Cup rankings list. She reached the No. 1 spot by virtue of her silver-medal performance in the World Cup No. 2, March 22-25 in Cairo, Egypt, and her fourth-place finish in the first World Cup of the season, March 1-4 in Mexico City, Mexico.

Attempting to make her fourth U.S. Olympic Team in an unprecedented third sport, Taormina’s rapid advancement has been nothing short of phenomenal. The 1996 Olympic gold medalist in swimming and 2000 and 2004 U.S. Olympian in triathlon, Taormina took up the sport of modern pentathlon in June of 2005. Last season was her first full competition season in the sport, which combines shooting, fencing, swimming, riding and running. Taormina was also honored during the month of March with the United States Sports Academy Jim Thorpe All-Around award.

The U.S. Men’s 4x200 Freestyle Relay Swimming Team took home second-place honors for the team award. The team of Michael Phelps(Baltimore, Md.), Klete Keller (Phoenix, Ariz.), Peter Vanderkaay (Rochester, Mich.), and Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.), dominated the 4x200 relay at the FINA World Championships, taking the gold and smashing the former world record. In a race against the world’s fastest swimmers, Team USA was in charge from start to finish. The quartet posted a time of 7:03.24 that shattered the old world record of 7:04.66 held by the Australians. Silver-medalist Australia finished almost seven seconds off the pace.

Results:

Men

1. Michael Phelps
2. Apolo Anton Ohno
3. Billy Demong

Women

1. Natalie Coughlin
2. Elizabeth Armstrong
3. Sheila Taormina

Team

1. Women’s World Championship Water Polo Team
2. Men’s 4x200 Freestyle Relay Swimming Team
3. Women’s National Soccer Team and U.S Women’s Gymnastics Team