Therese Alshammar

Nickname

Tessan, Al or Diva. (Daily Nebraskan 10 Nov 1998, Athlete, 1 Oct 1999, simforbundet.se, 6 Feb 2008)

Hobbies

She enjoys surfing, movies, coffee and design. (swimmingworldmagazine.com, 08 Mar 2011)

Occupation

Athlete

Education

University of Nebraska , Lincoln, NE, USA

Language(s) spoken

English

Club name

SK Neptun, Stockholm, SWE

Coach

Dirk Lange, Johan Wallberg and Grant Stoelwinder [club] (AUS) (FINA Aquatics World Magazine, 20 Feb 2011)

Handedness

Right (NOC, 24 May 2004)

Other sports

Her mother Britt-Marie was a swimmer at the 1972 Olympic Games. (sportsillustrated.cnn.com, 11 Sep 2000)

Debut

1993 for Sweden, European Championships (England) (NOC, 24 May 2004)

Additional information

Start of sporting career
She started swimming at the age of seven in Sweden. (Swedish Olympic Team Guide, 21 May 2001)

Reason for taking up this sport
Her mother introduced her to it and she instantly enjoyed it. (Athlete, 1 Oct 1999)

Ambitions
She would like to improve her swimming rate by 1% per year. (swimmingworldmagazine.com, 08 Mar 2011)

Training
She trains eight to 10 times in the pool per week and does a lot of dry land training. (swimmingworldmagazine.com, 08 Mar 2011)

Most memorable sporting achievement
Breaking her first world record, the 100m freestyle short course mark at the 1999 European Championships in Oeiras, Portugal. (NY Times, 11 Dec 1999, NOC 24 May 2004)

Hero
Her parents for their support. (Athlete, 1 Oct 1999)

Most influential person in career
Her mother, who started her in the sport and coached her until she was ten. (Athlete, 01 Oct 1999; sportsillustrated.cnn.com, 11 Sep 2000)

Sporting philosophy / motto
"I now know that the battle is won in practice... And I do train so much better and more now." (swimmingworldmagazine.com, 08 Mar 2011)

"Have fun. Enjoy the ups and downs- but, treat them both the same, and always follow your heart." (swimmingworldmagazine.com, 08 Mar 2011)

Awards
In 2010 she won the LEN Award, given to the top European female swimmer. (FINA Aquatics World Magazine, 20 Feb 2011)

She was named as the best female swimmer of 2010 by FINA after winning two gold medals at the World Championships [25m] in Dubai, UAE, and triumphing as the overall winner of the World Cup. (FINA, 07 Jan 2011)

She was once voted the sexiest woman in Sweden. (foxsports.com.au, 10 Jan 2009)

2011 She won Achievement of the Year and Female Athlete of the Year at the Swedish Sports Awards.
2012 She received the Honourable Medal of the 8th Degree from the Swedish King. (iconicsthlm.com, 16 Feb 2012)

General
2011 TRAINING SCHEDULE
She has been training around the world, firstly in Europe and then Mexico for a high altitude training camp in January, in Sydney, Australia, for quantity/quality workouts and dry land with her training group from March to June. She then planned to participate in the Mare Nostrum series travelling around to half a dozen other European countries before travelling to Shanghai for the 2011 FINA World Championships. (swimmingworldmagazine.com, 08 Mar 2011)

WORLD RECORD AND DISQUALIFICATION
She was stripped of the world record she broke in the 50m butterfly heats at the world championship trials in Sydney in 2009 for breaking Swimming Australia's by-laws by wearing two swimsuits. She was disqualified from the semi-finals. (telegraph.co.uk, 17 Mar 2009)

AUSTRALIAN TRAINING CAMP
In early 2009 she spent two months training with the New South Wales Institute of Sport [NSWIS] squad, alongside Australia swimmers Eamon Sullivan, Libby Trickett and Andrew Lauterstein in a bid to qualify for Sweden's 2009 World Championships squad. "I've had a great couple of months in Australia, it's the best place in the world for swimming," she said. (SMH, 17 Mar 2009)

SWIMSUIT MALFUNCTION
At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the zipper of her racing suit popped open as she was about to walk onto the pool deck for the semifinal of the 50m freestyle. The combined efforts of the United States' Dara Torres and Australia's Cate Campbell fixed the problem but the disruption saw her fail to qualify for the final. (SMH, 17 Mar 2009)

2002 WORLD SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
She defended her 50m freestyle title at the 2002 World Short Course Championships in Moscow, Russia, but only after the International Swimming Federation [FINA] had ordered the race to be swum for a second time. After the initial race, Australia appealed because of a technical problem with the starting platform of its swimmer Sarah Ryan. The Swedish delegation protested the decision but a re-swim was ordered. The result of the re-swim matched the race's original placings however, with Alshammar finishing ahead of Great Britain's Alison Sheppard. The 50m freestyle title, in addition to golds in the 100m freestyle and 4x100m freestyle and 4x100m medley relay events, was part of a second consecutive four-gold medal haul for her at the World Short Course Championships. Two years earlier at the 2000 World Short Course Championships in Athens, Greece, she had also claimed gold medals in the same four events. (FINA, 05 Apr 2002; Swimming World, 01 May 2002)

MEDAL WAIT
Her silver medal in the 100m freestyle at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney was the first individual Olympic medal by a female swimmer from Sweden in 40 years, following the silver medal won by Jane Cederqvist in the 400m freestyle event at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. (Infostrada, 20 Feb 2007)

FROM BACKSTROKE TO FREESTYLE
She competed in backstroke events at the 1993 and 1995 European Championships, 1994 World Championships and 1996 Olympic Games. Soon after failing to reach the 100m backstroke final at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, she switched her attention to freestyle events. (NBC Olympics, 28 Jun 2001)

TATTOO
The word 'diva' is tattooed on her lower back. The word comes from Latin and means 'goddess'. "I think I am a goddess," she said. "I have so much more strength inside me than I do in my muscle mass." (Daily Nebraskan, 10 Nov 1998)

BAD HABITS
She chews snuff and once said she would never give it up, along with coffee. (sportsillustrated.cnn.com, 11 Sep 2000)

PARTY GIRL
She was torn between her social life and swimming training and almost gave up when she was 13 and ditched training to go skiing with her boyfriend when she was 16. She made the Swedish national team in 1995 but was kicked off because of her undisciplined behaviour. After her year long suspension, she rejoined the

Previous Olympics

Beijing 2008, Athens 2004, Sydney 2000, Atlanta 1996