Shirley Babashoff was an American swimmer who was one of the first two women to earn five
swimming medals at a single Olympic Games. Babashoff competed at the Olympic Games Munich 1972 and the Montreal 1976 Games, earning two golds and two silvers in Munich, along with one gold and four silvers in Montreal. The nine-time Olympic medalist set six world records in individual Swimming events and swam on five world-record relay teams for a total of 11 world records. Born in Whittier, California, Babashoff was the most successful U.S. female Olympian prior to the 1990s. She dominated the 1976 U.S. Olympic Trials, winning every freestyle event and the 4x100-meter individual medley, while setting the world record in the 800 freestyle. She published an autobiography in 2016 entitled, “Making Waves: My Journey to Winning Olympic Gold and Defeating the East German Doping Program.”