During a year and a half away from swimming, 11-time Olympic medalist Natalie Coughlin said her wedding vows, grew vegetables, cooked gourmet meals and -- most famously -- she danced.
Natalie Coughlin, 27, is two medals short of becoming the most decorated female swimmer in Olympic history.
The fifth celebrity eliminated in last season's Dancing with the Stars, the 27-year-old proved to be as much a Renaissance woman out of the water as she is in it.
Now she's back to multitasking in the pool, competing in the 100-meter backstroke, the 100 freestyle and relays in this week's Pan Pacific championships.
Coughlin finished third in the 100 backstroke Wednesday in 59.7 seconds, less than a second off her best time in the event.
"I'm really, really, really happy," she says. "This is ahead of where I thought I would be."
She also is planning to work in coming months on her butterfly "because I think I have a lot of potential in that race."
The grandest piece of her potential, though -- the possibility that in two years, by winning two medals at the 2012 Summer Games, Coughlin could surpass fellow swimmers Dara Torres and Jenny Thompson as the most decorated U.S. female Olympian-- she would rather not address.
Nor does she want to talk about how she could win back-to-back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the 100 backstroke, her signature event.
"I've said some things like, 'You could be the first person to do ...,' " says Coughlin's coach, Teri McKeever, "and she goes, 'So.' "
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SOURCE: USA Today
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