Rebecca Soni

Rebecca Soni (born March 18, 1987) is an American former competition swimmer and breaststroke specialist who swam for the University of Southern California, and 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 received the American Swimmer of the Year award in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Soni was born March 18, 1987 in Freehold, New Jersey, U.S. Her father Peter is of Hungarian-Jewish descent; he and his family emigrated from Cluj-Napoca, Transilvania (now in Romania), from which their families had been deported during World War II. Her Jewish paternal grandfather Poli Schoenberg survived the Auschwitz concentration camp, whereas his parents lost their lives in the Holocaust. Her father's first marriage was to an American woman, whom he met during his studies, they resided together in the United States, but eventually had a divorce. Her mother Kinga is her father's second marriage. She also has distant relatives in Israel.

Soni is a 2005 graduate of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North in Plainsboro Township, New Jersey. During her High School years, Soni held many school records and was a New Jersey State record holder in both the 200y and 100y breaststroke. Starting at the age of 13, and continuing throughout her High School years, Soni swam for Scarlet Aquatics, a strong program under accomplished Coach Tom Speedling in Poscataway, New Jersey near the Rutgers campus. Speedling received the Award of Excellence from the American Swimming Coaches Association five times, and coached both future Olympians and All Americans during his career. In July 2006 she had a cardiac ablation. Throughout 2005, Soni had a top 25 global ranking in the 200m and 100m breaststroke.

Soni attended the University of Southern California (USC) from around 2005-2009 where she swam under Head Coach Dave Salo. In the summers during her collegiate years, she swam for the Trojan Swim Club, associated with USC. Swimming for the USC varsity team, Soni was a six-time NCAA Champion, having won the 200-yard breaststroke in 2006 through 2009 and the 100-yard breaststroke in 2008 and 2009. Soni earned eleven All-American honors as a USC swimmer from 2006-09 and was the first women to capture 200-yard NCAA breaststroke titles in four successive years. In conference competition, while competing for USC, Soni won a total of six titles at the Pac-10 Conference championships.

In August 2010, Soni became a spokeswoman for the United Nations Foundation's Girl Up campaign. The organization focuses on improving the lives of the world's adolescent girls.

As a 17-year-old at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Soni finished 15th overall in the 100-meter breaststroke and 11th overall in the 200-meter breaststroke. The following year, at the 2005 World Championship Trials, Soni just missed a spot on the 2005 World Aquatic team after finishing third in the 200-meter breaststroke behind Tara Kirk and Kristen Caverly. Soni also placed fourth in the 100-meter breaststroke. At the 2005 Summer Universiade, Soni earned her first international medals by winning silver in the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke and gold in the 4×100-meter medley relay. At the 2006 World Short Course Championships, Soni finished in 4th place in the 200-meter breaststroke. Just a few weeks before the 2006 National Championships, Soni underwent a procedure called radiofrequency ablation to help regulate her heartbeat. Although it was not health-threatening, Soni would sometimes experience a high heart rate which sometimes interfered with her training. At the 2006 National Championships, the selection meet for the 2006 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships and the 2007 World Aquatics Championships, Soni finished tenth overall in both the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke.