.jpg) Sanders in 2009 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Summer Elisabeth Sanders |
| National team |  United States |
| Born | (1972-10-13)October 13, 1972 (age 53) Roseville, California, U.S. |
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) |
| Weight | 126 lb (57 kg) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Swimming |
| Strokes | Butterfly,individual medley |
| Club | California Capital Aquatics |
| College team | Stanford University |
| Coach | Richard Quick UT |
Medal record | |
Summer Elizabeth Sanders[1] (born October 13, 1972)[2] is an Americansports commentator,reporter,television personality,actress, former competitionswimmer and Olympic champion from 1992.
Sanders was born inRoseville, California,[2] and attended Cavitt Junior High School andOakmont High School.[1]
By age three, Sanders could swim a lap of the pool. She wanted to be just like her older brother Trevor, so in 1976 she joined the Sugar Bears—an age-group swimming program in Roseville, California, coached by Mike Barsotti, Scott Winter and Scott O'Conner. From there she jumped to the Sierra Aquatic Club with coach Ralph Thomas, and finally to California Capital Aquatics under coach Mike Hastings.[citation needed]
At age 15, Sanders drew real attention from the swimming world when she barely missed earning a spot on the 1988 Olympic Team, finishing third in the 200-meter individual medley. In her first international meet, she won a silver medal in the 200 individual medley behind Lin Li of China at the 1989 Pan Pacific Championships. At the 1991 Pan Pacific Championships, she won the 400-meter individual medley (beating Lin Li) and the 200-meter butterfly.[citation needed]
In 1991, Sanders enrolled at Stanford University to swim under Hall of Fame coachRichard Quick.[3] In her two-year collegiate swimming career, Sanders won eight NCAA National Championship titles, including the 200-yard butterfly, 200-yard individual medley and 400-yard individual medley and the 4x100-yard medley relay. She won back-to-back NCAA Swimmer of the Year titles and helped her Cardinal team win the 1992 NCAA National Championships. She was the recipient of theHonda Sports Award for Swimming and Diving, recognizing her as the outstanding college female swimmer of the year in 1991–92.[4][5][6]
Sanders won three medals at the 1991 World Championships in Perth, Australia, taking gold in the 200-meter butterfly, silver in the 200-meter individual medley, and bronze in the 400-meter individual medley. She then became the first American woman since Hall of FamerShirley Babashoff (1976) to qualify for four individual events at one Olympiad at the 1992 Olympic Trials.[citation needed]
At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, Sanders won four Olympic medals—gold in the 200-meterbutterfly with a time of 2:08.67, gold in the 400-meter medley relay, silver in the 200-meter individual medley, and abronze medal in the 400-meter individual medley.[7][8]
Sanders began working on television while still competing. In 1992 and 1994 she was a commentator forCBS Sports for theNCAA Swimming Championships. In 1996, she was a commentator forNBC's coverage of swimming at theAtlanta Olympics. She acted as an Olympic analyst and host for NBC during the 1996, 2000, 2002 and 2010 Olympic Games, being a Today Show special contributor from 2000 to 2004 and contributed to the network's coverage of the2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City as an on-site reporter. She was also the host ofScholastic at the Olympic Games onMSNBC in 2000.
Sanders spent eight years co-hostingNBA Inside Stuff with Ahmad Rashad, being a sideline reporter for theWNBA (Lifetime, 1997–1999; NBC, 1999–2002) and a feature correspondent forNBA on NBC from 2000 to 2002. She coveredtennis as a reporter for United States's coverage of theU.S. Open in 2000 and 2001, and was co-host of CBS' coverage of "Arthur Ashe Kid's Day" at the Open from 2000 to 2006.
Sanders has appeared in many programs as correspondent, co-host, and host. Highlights includeNickelodeon, who named her their "commissioner" for theNick GAS channel in 1998, after being the first female host of a Nickelodeon game show,Figure It Out (1997–1999),[9] co-hosting forMTV'sSandblast in 1994, and hosting the syndicated seriesUS Olympic Gold (2002–2005),Beg, Borrow & Deal (ESPN, 2003),NBA TV'sMind, Body & Spirit (2003–2004)[9] andThe Sports List (Fox Sports Net, 2004–2005).[10] Sanders also co-hosted theFoxcelebrity reality seriesSkating With Celebrities in 2006.
In 2009, Sanders began hostingInside Out with Summer Sanders. The show, which is the first original production ofUniversal Sports, debuted on December 23, 2009, and focuses on in-depth interviews and intimate profiles of notable Olympic athletes.[11] She also worked as a general correspondent forGood Morning America andRachael Ray.[9]
She appeared on the third season ofCelebrity Apprentice, and competed for charity.[12] In January 2012, she was one of eight celebrities participating in theFood Networkreality seriesRachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off.[13]
Sanders hosted the award-winning "Elite Athlete Workouts" on Yahoo!Sports and covered the 2012 Olympic Games in London for the news outlet. She currently works as a commentator on the newPac-12 Network.
Her most recent work in TV is hosting the game showKeywords forHLN.
Sanders has appeared as an actress in two films:Jerry Maguire (1996), in which she played herself, andBroken Record (1997).
In June 1999, she published the bookChampions Are Raised, Not Born: How My Parents Made Me A Success.[14]
On July 4, 1997, Sanders married Olympic swimmerMark Henderson.[15] The couple divorced in 2001. In July 2005, she marriedErik Schlopy, a World Cup skier who competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Sanders and Schlopy have two children. She is a noted fan of theNFL'sBuffalo Bills; her husband is a native Western New Yorker whose cousinTodd Schlopy briefly played for the Bills in 1987.[16]
On June 9, 2007, Sanders' childhood home was destroyed by a fire.[17]
On September 19, 2025, anAmicus Brief was filed with theU.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Sanders and other athletes in support of West Virginia's attempt to ban transgender athletes from participating in women's sports.[18][19]
Height: 5-9½.Weight: 137.Born: Oct. 13, 1972 in Roseville, Calif.Interesting fact: 'I was born on Friday, the 13th.'
(archived December 14, 2007)| Awards | ||
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| Preceded by | Swimming World American Swimmer of the Year 1992 | Succeeded by |
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