Rebecca Soni, American swimmer
Rebecca Soni (born March 18, 1987) is an American former competition swimmer and breaststroke specialist who is a six-time Olympic medalist. She is a former world record-holder in the 100-meter breaststroke (short and long course) and the 200-meter breaststroke (short and long course), and is the first woman to swim the 200-meter breaststroke in under 2 minutes 20 seconds. As a member of the U.S. national team, she held the world record in the 4×100-meter medley relay from 2012 to 2017 (long course).
Soni has won a total of twenty-two medals in major international competition, fourteen gold, seven silver, and one bronze spanning the Olympics, the World, the Universiade, and the Pan Pacific Championships. She burst onto the international scene at the 2008 Summer Olympics where she won two silver medals and one gold. In the 200-meter breaststroke at the Olympics, she set the world record en route to winning gold, shocking Australian favorite Leisel Jones. Four years later at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Soni successfully defended her Olympic title in the 200-meter breaststroke in world record time, becoming the first woman to do so in the event.
She was named Swimming World's World Swimmer of the Year award in 2010 and 2011, and the American Swimmer of the Year award in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
1987Mar, 18
Rebecca Soni
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Events on 1987
- 27Apr
Kurt Waldheim
The U.S. Department of Justice bars Austrian President Kurt Waldheim (and his wife, Elisabeth, who had also been a Nazi) from entering the USA, charging that he had aided in the deportations and executions of thousands of Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II. - 1May
Auschwitz concentration camp
Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. - 5Jul
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Sri Lankan Civil War: The LTTE uses suicide attacks on the Sri Lankan Army for the first time. The Black Tigers are born and, in the following years, will continue to kill with the tactic. - 27Jul
RMS Titanic
RMS Titanic Inc. begins the first expedited salvage of wreckage of the RMS Titanic. - 7Nov
Habib Bourguiba
In Tunisia, president Habib Bourguiba is overthrown and replaced by Prime Minister Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.