Lindsay Benko

Lindsay Dianne Benko (born November 29, 1976), also known by her married name as Lindsay Mintenko, is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic gold medalist, and former world record-holder. She represented the United States at the 2000 Summer Olympics and 2004 Summer Olympics. She held the short-course world record in the 400-meter freestyle (at 3:59.53) for nearly three years from January 2003 to December 2005.[2]

Lindsay Benko
Personal information
Full nameLindsay Dianne Benko
National team United States
Born (1976-11-29) November 29, 1976
Elkhart, Indiana
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight163 lb (74 kg)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesFreestyle, backstroke
ClubTrojan Swim Club
College teamUniversity of Southern California[1]

Early years

Benko attended the Stanley Clark School in South Bend, Indiana, for her elementary education. Upon graduating from Stanley Clark, she attended Elkhart Central High School in Elkhart, Indiana, where she was "the first swimmer in IHSAA history to sweep two individual events all four years while piling up All-American honors."[3]

Swimming career

At the 2000 Olympics, Benko was a member of the USA's gold-medal-winning 4×200-meter freestyle relay.[4][5] Four years later at the 2004 Olympics, she earned gold swimming in the heats of the 4×200 m freestyle relay and silver swimming the heats of the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.[6][7]

Acting career

In 2000, Benko played herself in an episode of The Jersey called "Sophomore Year"[8] where Morgan Hudson (played by Courtnee Draper) fights to have girls soccer reinstated after it was canceled, Nick Lighter (played by Michael Galeota) uses a magical jersey by jumping into her body as he wins the race and uses a news crew to promote his cousin's attempt to save girls soccer at the school with a fundraising car wash.

Personal life and management career

In 2005, Benko married Canadian swimmer Mike Mintenko.[9] She uses her married name professionally.[3] She previously worked for USA Swimming as the national team managing director.[3] In 2017, she became the first woman to lead USA Swimming’s National Team Division.[10][11]

See also

References
  1. Lindsay Benko, Paige Francis named Swimming assistant coaches. Published by the Pac-10 Conference on 2005-07-06, retrieved 2012-03-27.
  2. Women's 400 Free results (finals) from the 2003-04 World Cup meet in Berlin. Published by Omega Timing on 2003-01-26, retrieved 2012-03-27.
  3. Anderson, Anthony (August 10, 2008). "Local Sports: Lindsay Mintenko enjoys new Olympic role". The Elkhart Truth. Retrieved October 21, 2015. In high school for Elkhart Central, she was the first swimmer in IHSAA history to sweep two individual events all four years while piling up All-American honors.
  4. "ESPN Sydney Swimming". Retrieved March 14, 2009.
  5. Benko's entry Archived April 3, 2011, at the Wayback Machine from sports-reference.com. Retrieved 2012-03-27.
  6. "2004 Olympic Games swimming results". CNN. Retrieved July 22, 2007.
  7. "7th FINA World Championships - 25m Indianapolis 2004" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 26, 2007. Retrieved July 24, 2007.
  8. "The Jersey Season 2 Sophomore Year (via TV.Com)". Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  9. Canadian champion Mike Mintenko retires. Published by SwimNews on 2005-11-11, retrieved 2012-03-27.
  10. Maureen Hassett-Lindsey. "USA Swimming Promotes Lindsay Mintenko to National Team Managing Director Position - Swimming World News". Swimmingworldmagazine.com. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  11. "Mintenko becomes 1st female to lead US national swim team | Olympics". pilotonline.com. October 6, 2017. Retrieved October 19, 2017.


Records
Preceded by
Claudia Poll		 Women's 400-meter freestyle
world record-holder (short course)
January 26, 2003 – December 10, 2005		 Succeeded by
Laure Manaudou


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