The best Olympic Swimmers are located in the United States of America and I do not say it as a form of nationalism. In Florida and California, people spend most of their time in the water and swimming classes are almost mandatory in these states. Florida for example is a peninsula surrounded by water and most houses have a swimming pool. California is known for Malibu Beach, the Beach Boys, and Amanda Beard.

Amanda Beard is an Olympic Swimmer as well as a model that was born and raised in California. She was born in Newport Beach, California on the 29th of October in the year 1981 and started swimming like most people in California at an early age. She specialized in the Breaststroke while attending Irvine High School in Irvine, California and the University of Arizona.

Amanda Beard started her Olympic Career in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics at the tender age of fourteen where she won silver medals in the hundred meter and two hundred meter breaststroke and a gold medal in the medley relay. She was famous for receiving her medals while holding on to her good luck teddy bear. She later won a bronze medal in the 2000 Olympics held in Sydney, Australia for her participation in the two hundred meter breaststroke. Amanda Beard also managed to win an NCAA Division One Championship followed by victories in the US Nationals.

Amanda Beard also participated in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens Greece where she won the gold medal for the 200 meter breaststroke and a silver medal in the 200 meter individual medley. She also managed to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics after finishing second in the 200 meter breaststroke.

Amanda Beard has also appeared in television programmes such as «The Best Damn Sports Show Period» as well as posing in Playboy Magazine [July 2007 Issue] as well as Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition for the year 2006. Amanda Beard is also involved in the Defenders of Wildlife Association which seeks to prevent cruelty to animals and is in favour of abolishing steel jaw leg hold traps. Amanda Beard has served her country and the world in sports and outside sports. It is for this reason that she deserves to be named the best Olympic Swimmer for all times at the end of the Twentieth Century and the beginning of the Twenty First Century.

I wish Amanda Beard the best in the Beijing Olympics of 2008 and in the future. I also want to wish Amanda Beard the best in her efforts to help animals in the Defenders of Wildlife Association.