Silver Anniversary Award

STANFORD, Calif. – Jenny Thompson, a 26-time All-American and 19-time NCAA champion, received the 2020 Silver Anniversary Award, given annually in recognition of both collegiate and professional achievement.

Representatives of NCAA member schools and conferences, along with a panel of former student-athletes, select each year's recipients.

Joining Thompson as fellow 2020 recipients are Carla Ainsworth, Stewart Cink, Darren Eales, Rebecca Lobo, and Adam Vinatieri. The NCAA will recognize the honorees at the Honors Celebration during the 2020 NCAA Convention on Jan. 22 in Anaheim, California.

In her time with the Cardinal, Thompson won 10 NCAA titles as a member of a relay team and nine individual titles. She won the 100-yard freestyle all four years of competition, the 50 freestyle twice (1992, 1993), the 100 butterfly twice (1994, 1995) and the 200 individual medley (1995).

Thompson is also a four-time Olympian who earned 12 medals: two gold and one silver at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona; three gold at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta; three gold and one bronze at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney; and two silver at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. She won more Olympic medals than any other female in history and won 85 medals in international competition. In addition, she set a world record in the 100-meter freestyle that stood for two years and set multiple world records in the 100-meter butterfly. In 1998, Thompson was recognized as the Swimming World Magazine Female World Swimmer of the Year.

After retiring from swimming, Thompson earned her medical degree in 2006 from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She completed her residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital before completing her fellowship training at Children's Hospital of Boston.

Thompson is now an anesthesiologist and surgeon at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Charleston, South Carolina. She also is an active participant in Swim Across America, a nonprofit organization that hosts benefit swims to raise money for lifesaving cancer research and clinical trials.