Lia Neal
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| National team |  United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | February 13, 1995 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Freestyle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics (Eastside) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| College team | Stanford University | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Lia Neal (born February 13, 1995) is an American former professional swimmer who specialized in freestyle events. In her Olympic debut at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, she won a bronze medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. In 2016, she won a silver medal in the same event at Rio de Janeiro. She was the second female African-American swimmer to make a U.S. Olympic team.
Early life
[edit]Lia Neal was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1995, the daughter of Siu and Jerome Neal. Lia Neal is of African and Chinese descent.[1][2] She started swimming when she was six years old in New York City.[3] She attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart School in New York City, where she was a member of the club swim team, Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics.[4]
Career
[edit]2008 US Olympic Trials
[edit]Neal competed at the 2008 US Olympic Trials in swimming in Omaha, Nebraska from June to July 2008 when she was 13 years old. She ranked 28th in the 50-meter freestyle and 78th in the 100-meter freestyle.[5]
2012
[edit]2012 US Olympic Trials
[edit]At the 2012 United States Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, the U.S. qualifying meet for the Olympics, Neal made the U.S. Olympic team by finishing fourth in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 54.33 seconds, which qualified her to swim in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.[6]
Neal was 17 years old when she became the second female African-American swimmer to qualify for a U.S. Olympic swimming team.[3] She was also highlighted for the geographical diversity she brought to the U.S. Olympic swimming team as she was not from a warm-weather state, such as Florida or California, where U.S. Olympic swimmers typically come from.[7]
2012 Summer Olympics
[edit]| 2012 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
4x100 m freestyle relay | 3:34.24 |
At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Neal won a bronze medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay with Missy Franklin, Jessica Hardy and Allison Schmitt, with the U.S. team finishing third behind the teams from Australia and the Netherlands.[8] Swimming the third leg, Neal had a split of 53.65 seconds and the U.S. team finished with a total time of 3:34.24, an American record. Neal was chosen to swim in the final based on her performance in the heats of the 4×100-meter freestyle. Swimming the lead-off leg in the heats, Neal posted a time of 54.15.
Neal made history with fellow African-American swimmers Anthony Ervin and Cullen Jones by being the first three African-Americans on a US Olympic swim team with more than one African-American swimmer.[9] She was also a senior in high school and the first student from the Convent of the Sacred Heart since its founding in 1881 to compete in an Olympic Games.[10]
2015
[edit]
In 2015, Neal became one of the first three African-American swimmers to place in the top three spots at the 100-yard freestyle in any Women’s Division I NCAA Swimming Championship; Simone Manuel was first, Neal was second and Natalie Hinds was third.[11][12]
2016 Summer Olympics
[edit]| 2016 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
4x100 m freestyle relay | 3:31.89 |
In 2016 at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Neal won a silver medal at the Olympic Games in the Women's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, swimming in the preliminary heats of the race.
2017
[edit]From 2013 to 2017, Neal competed collegiately for Stanford University where she was an 8-time NCAA champion.[13]
2019 World Championships
[edit]| 2019 World Championships | ||
|---|---|---|
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4x100 m freestyle relay | 3:31.02 |
In July 2019 at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, Lia Neal anchored the 4x100-meter freestyle relay swimming a 54.41 and winning a silver medal in the finals.[14]
2020
[edit]In April 2020 Neal shared a bit about herself and her efforts to widen the perspective of swimmers, including herself, outside the pool via a SwimSwam podcast. One of the ways she has worked to make the swimming community more visible and approachable to those outside the swimming community is through her YouTube channel.[15] She started the channel on August 19, 2016, and began uploading videos related to the diversification of perceptions of swimmers in March 2020 when she announced she was becoming a YouTuber.[16][17]
2021: Retirement from competitive swimming
[edit]In May 2021, Neal announced her retirement from the sport of swimming.[18]
Personal life
[edit]Neal is Catholic, having been baptized at Sacred Heart Church in Brooklyn.[19]
Sponsorships
[edit]TYR Sport, Inc. signed Neal in 2017 as a sponsor of her professional swimming career.[20] She earned a MBA from Harvard Business School.[21]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Jenee Desmond-Harris,"Olympic Swim Team's 2nd Black Woman Archived 2012-08-09 at the Wayback Machine," The Root (August 2, 2012). Retrieved August 6, 2012.
- ^ Rogers, Katie (August 12, 2016). "A Closer Look at Simone Manuel, Olympic Medalist, History Maker". The New York Times. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
- ^ a b "Lia Neal, 17-Year-Old Swimmer, Becomes 2nd African-American Woman To Make Olympic Swim Team". HuffPost. July 13, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
- ^ Crouse, Karen (March 7, 2008). "13-Year-Old Blazes a Lane in Swimming's Olympic Pool". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
- ^ Omega Timing (July 6, 2008). "2008 Olympic Trials Results". USA Swimming. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
- ^ Omega Timing, 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming, Women's 100 m Freestyle (Finals) Archived 2012-07-04 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
- ^ "NYC's Lia Neal becomes 2nd African-Americas woman to make US Olympic swim team". The Philadelphia Sunday Sun. July 8, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Lia Neal". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on December 4, 2016.
- ^ "Black Swimmers Have Historic Presence in London Olympics". Atlanta Black Star. July 5, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
- ^ Chicoine, Christie L. (July 20, 2012). "Convent of the Sacred Heart Swimmer Bringing Home the Bronze". Catholic New York. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
- ^ "Three College Swimmers Make History At NCAA Championship: African-American swimmers took the top three finishes in a single event at NCAA Swimming Championships this weekend". NBC. March 23, 2015. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
- ^ "Three Black Women Swimmers Make NCAA History". News One (Pakistani TV channel). March 24, 2015. Retrieved April 12, 2015.
- ^ "Lia Neal". Swimswam. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
- ^ "Lia Neal Bio".
- ^ SwimSwam (April 3, 2021). "Swimming From Home Talk Show: Lia Neal on Getting to Know Swimmers Outside the Pool". YouTube. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
- ^ Neal, Lia Maria. "Lia Maria Neal - About". YouTube. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
- ^ Neal, Lia Maria (March 8, 2020). "OLYMPIAN BECOMES YOUTUBER". YouTube. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
- ^ Sutherland, James (May 26, 2021). "Two-Time Olympic Medalist Lia Neal Announces Retirement From Swimming". SwimSwam. Retrieved June 17, 2021.
- ^ Mancari, Jim (August 17, 2016). "Brooklyn Swimmer Has Silver Souvenir From Rio". The Tablet. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
- ^ Brien, Taylor (August 24, 2017). "Two-Time Olympian Lia Neal Joins Team TYR". Swimming World. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
- ^ https://www.gomotionapp.com/lscnes/UserFiles/Image/QuickUpload/full-program-print2_054285.pdf [bare URL PDF]
External links
[edit]
- Official website
- Lia Neal at World Aquatics
- Lia Neal at the International Swimming League (archived)
- Lia Neal at Olympics.com
- Lia Neal at Olympedia
- Lia Neal at Team USA (archive March 18, 2023)
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- 1995 births
- Living people
- American sportswomen of Chinese descent
- American female freestyle swimmers
- Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m)
- Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in swimming
- Sportspeople from Brooklyn
- Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics
- Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics
- Swimmers at the 2019 Pan American Games
- World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming
- Convent of the Sacred Heart (NYC) alumni
- Schools of the Sacred Heart alumni
- Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
- Olympic silver medalists for the United States in swimming
- Summer World University Games medalists in swimming
- FISU World University Games gold medalists for the United States
- Medalists at the 2015 Summer Universiade
- Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games
- Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in swimming
- 21st-century African-American sportswomen
- African-American swimmers
- Stanford Cardinal women's swimmers
- Harvard Business School alumni
- African-American Catholics
- 21st-century American sportswomen