Elizabeth Beisel
3-time Olympian
2-time Olympic Medalist
US Olympic Team Captain
About.
Elizabeth Beisel is an Olympic swimmer who competed in the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Olympic Games. In 2008, Beisel competed in both the 400 IM and 200 backstroke as the youngest member of Team USA.
In 2012, Beisel brought home two Olympic medals; a silver in the 400m Individual Medley, and a bronze in the 200m backstroke. At the 2016 Olympics, she was voted by her teammates to serve as Captain of the U.S. Olympic Team.
Elizabeth was born and raised in the Ocean State, and continued her swimming career on a scholarship at the University of Florida. There, she graduated with a 3.9 GPA and joined Tim Tebow as the only other Florida student-athlete to earn academic All-America First-Team Honors each year they were eligible.
After graduating, she continued to live in Florida to train for her third Olympics and signed a four year professional swimming contract with the swimwear company, Speedo. Throughout her career, Beisel amassed a total of 14 U.S. National titles.
Before retiring from the sport in 2017 Beisel set yet another record: becoming the only female swimmer to compete on the U.S. National Team for 12 consecutive years. Her male counterpart in this streak is her former teammate, Michael Phelps.
Elizabeth is now a media contributor for NBC and ESPN. She was a part of NBC’s 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games Swimming coverage team, and has worked multiple Division 1 Swimming and Diving Conference Championships with ESPN.
On September 25, 2021, Elizabeth became the first woman in history to swim to Block Island, Rhode Island. Her swim, named “Block Cancer”, was a 20km nonstop and unassisted journey across the Block Island Sound to raise money for cancer research and clinical trials. On July 1, 2021, Elizabeth lost her father to pancreatic cancer, and completed the swim in his honor. As of November 2022, Block Cancer has raised over $660,000 for cancer research and clinical trials.
