Born to Swim Trivia Quiz

Answer: Pieter van den Hoogenband

Pieter van den Hoogenband was one of the most famous swimmers in Dutch history. He won seven Olympic medals, including three gold. He competed in four Olympic games between 1996-2008 but only medaled in 2000 and 2004. In Dutch media, van den Hoogenband became known for his romantic relationships with other Dutch swimmers Minouche Smit, with whom he has two children, and Ranomi Kromowidjojo, a fellow multiple gold-medal winning Olympian.

Answer: Ryan Lochte

Ryan Lochte swam many different strokes competitively, though his most successful races were medleys and backstroke swims. Lochte also competed in freestyle swims, where he often faced off against his friend and rival Michael Phelps.

After the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Lochte became something of a pop culture star, even having his own reality show called "What Would Ryan Lochte Do?" He also made several guest appearances on various TV series, including "30 Rock".

Answer: Katie Ledecky

Katie Ledecky first gained fame at the London 2012 Olympics when she unexpectedly won the gold medal in the 800 meter freestyle. She repeated that gold medal in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 where she beat her world record by just under two seconds and the second place finisher by over 11 seconds. Between the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, Ledecky had never lost an individual race in international competition.

Answer: Katinka Hosszu

Katinka Hosszu was the star Hungarian swimmer of the 2016 Olympic Games where she won three gold medals and one silver. Between 2009 and 2016, Hosszu had won dozens of world and European titles in various events but had never won an Olympic medal of any color after she disappointed at the 2012 Games.

Her husband and coach, Shane Tusup, gained attention at the 2016 Games because of his passionate cheering from the bleachers, a routine that often involved pounding his chest, screaming words of encouragement and crying happily when Hosszu won.

Answer: Inge de Bruijn

At the time Inge de Bruijn retired from swimming in 2007, she was the most decorated Dutch Olympian of all time, but she has since been surpassed. At age 30 in 2004, she won the gold medal in the 50 meter freestyle, which made her the oldest swimming Olympic gold medalist until Michael Phelps passed her at he 2016 games. Phelps was then surpassed later at the 2016 games by Anthony Ervin.

Overall, de Bruijn won four gold medals, two silver and two bronze at the Olympic Games.

Answer: Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps competed in his first Olympics in 2000 at the age of 15, but did not win a medal. His first Olympic medals came in 2004 in Athens where he won six gold and two bronze. He became a worldwide celebrity when he beat Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals at the 2008 Beijing games. It was at those Olympics when the media began calling him the greatest Olympian of all time. By the time he retired in 2016 after the Rio de Janeiro Games, Phelps had won 28 medals, including 23 gold, a record for any Olympian in the modern era and passing Larisa Latynina's record of 18.

Phelps, at age 31 in 2016, became the oldest Olympic swimming gold medalist ever. However, three days later his record was broken by 35-year old Anthony Ervin. Also at the 2016 games, Phelps became the first swimmer to win gold medals 12 years apart, a record that was broken again by Ervin three days later when he won the same event 16 years apart.

Answer: Natalie Coughlin

In 2008 at Beijing, Coughlin became the first American woman to win six medals in a single Olympics - one gold, two silver and three bronze. In total, Coughlin has 12 Olympic medals, including three gold. She was also the first woman to swim the 100 meter backstroke in under a minute. Coughlin is an avid cook, appearing as both a contestant and judge on various Food Network programs.

Answer: Mark Spitz

Mark Spitz became famous for winning seven gold medals at the 1972 Olympics. He posed on the cover of Sports Illustrated while wearing all seven. That cover is one of SI's most iconic of all times. In total, Spitz won eleven medals, including nine gold, in his Olympic career.

He was also well known for his mustache, which is a facial feature not commonly found on swimmers who usually prefer to be shaven for streamlining purposes.

Answer: Ian Thorpe

Thorpe is considered the most successful athlete at the 2000 Games because he won five medals, three of which were gold. There were four other athletes who earned three gold medals but they had less silvers than Thorpe and although Russian gymnast Alexei Nemov won six medals, only two of those were gold. Since retiring from the sport, Thorpe has become an advocate for the rights of Australia's indigenous population.

Answer: Simone Manuel

Simone Manuel won the 100 meter freestyle at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro to become the first African-American female swimmer to win a gold medal at the Olympics. She also won three other medals at the Games. One of those medals, the gold she won in the 4 x 100 meter relay, was the United States' 1,000th gold medal at the Summer Olympics.