Whitney Hedgepeth

Who is Whitney Hedgepeth?

Whitney Lynn Hedgepeth is an American former competition swimmer who won a gold and two silver medals at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Hedgepeth was born in Charlottesville, Virginia. She reached the Olympic level as a swimmer for the Virginia Association for Competitive Swimming under coach Dudley Duncan. Many Virginia Swimming LSC Records remain hers, over two decades later.

Hedgepeth initially attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where she competed for coach Randy Reese's Florida Gators swimming and diving team in 1989–90. As a Gator swimmer, she won two NCAA national championships: the individual 200-meter freestyle, and as a member of the Gators' winning team in the 4x100-meter medley relay. She received seven All-American honors from her performance at the 1990 NCAA championships. Following her freshman year, she transferred to the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, and finished her NCAA career swimming for coach Jill Sterkel's Texas Longhorns swimming and diving team from 1992 to 1994. As a Texas Longhorn swimmer, she won three more NCAA national championships and received another twenty All-American honors, for a career total of twenty-seven.