Lea Maurer

Lea Loveless Maurer (born April 1, 1971), née Lea E. Loveless, is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former college swimming coach. She represented the United States at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, where she won a gold medal swimming the backstroke leg of the women's 4×100-meter medley relay. She also won a bronze medal in the 100-meter backstroke. She was the head coach of the Stanford University women's swimming and diving team from 2005 to 2012.[1]

Lea Maurer
Lea Maurer in 2008
Personal information
Full nameLea Loveless Maurer
National team United States
Born (1971-04-01) April 1, 1971
Yonkers, New York
Height5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Weight134 lb (61 kg)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesBackstroke
College teamUniversity of Florida
Stanford University
Medal record
Women's swimming
Representing the United States
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1992 Barcelona 4×100 m medley
Bronze medal – third place 1992 Barcelona 100 m backstroke
World Championships (LC)
Gold medal – first place 1998 Perth 100 m backstroke
Gold medal – first place 1998 Perth 4×100 m medley
Silver medal – second place 1994 Rome 4×100 m medley
Pan Pacific Championships
Gold medal – first place 1989 Tokyo 100 m backstroke
Gold medal – first place 1989 Tokyo 4×100 m medley
Gold medal – first place 1993 Kobe 100 m backstroke
Gold medal – first place 1993 Kobe 4×100 m medley
Gold medal – first place 1997 Fukuoka 4×100 m medley
Silver medal – second place 1993 Kobe 200 m backstroke
Silver medal – second place 1995 Atlanta 4×100 m medley
Silver medal – second place 1997 Fukuoka 100 m backstroke
Silver medal – second place 1997 Fukuoka 200 m backstroke

Swimming career

Maurer was born in Yonkers, New York.[2] Early in her career, she was coached by John Collins of the Badger Swim Club in Larchmont, New York,[2] a coach and team that also produced Olympic champions Rick Carey and Cristina Teuscher.[3] She attended the University of Florida in 1989 and 1990, where she swam for the Florida Gators swimming and diving team under coach Randy Reese.[4] She transferred to Stanford University prior to the 1992 Olympics. Lea broke the 100m backstroke American record at 100.82 at the Barcelona Olympic Games leading off the World-Record earning 1992 medley relay. Lea later won the gold at the World Championships in Perth, Australia in 1998 bettering her own American Record to 100.77. In addition to her Olympic and world championship medals, Lea swam on three of Stanford's NCAA swimming championship teams in 1992, 1993 and 1994. She also won three NCAA individual championships in the 100-meter backstroke and one in the 200-meter backstroke.[5] She continued to compete on the USA National Team until 2000.

Coaching career

Following her retirement from competitive swimming, Loveless Maurer, who is married to fellow Stanford swimmer Erik Maurer, became an assistant swimming coach at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. From 1995 to 2005, she coached the boys' and girls' swim teams at Lake Forest High School in Lake Forest, Illinois, during which time the girls' team won the state championship in 2002 and 2003, and the boys' team won the state championship in 2003.[5]

In 2005, she was named head coach of the Stanford women's swimming and diving team. She led the team to back-to-back Pac-10 championships in 2010 and 2011 and resigned following the 2012 season.[1] She was inducted into the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006.[5]

Maurer is now a volunteer assistant coach for the Stanford men's water polo team since the spring of 2013.

She is a veteran celebrity swimmer for Swim Across America (SAA), a charitable organization that enlists former Olympic swimmers to raise funds for cancer research, and she has participated in three SAA events.[6]

She is also the assistant head coach for the USC Trojans under Coach Kipp.

See also

References
  1. Almond, Elliott (July 3, 2012). "Stanford swim coach Lea Maurer leaving alma mater". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  2. "Lea Maurer biography". CityOfYonkers.com. Archived from the original on May 22, 2011. Retrieved July 21, 2008.
  3. "Badger Olympians". BadgerSwimClub. Archived from the original on July 3, 2008. Retrieved July 21, 2008.
  4. "University of Florida 2007-08 Swimming & Diving Media Guide" (PDF). GatorZone.com. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
  5. "Lea Maurer profile". GoStanford.com. Archived from the original on December 28, 2007. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
  6. Swim Across America, Olympians, Lea Loveless Maurer. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
  • Lea Loveless – Olympic Games results at databaseOlympics.com
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