Now a top female sports model, including being featured in Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit edition, Amanda Ray Beard, was once just a girl from Irvine, California. She was born there October 29, 1981, and graduated from Irvine High School in 1999, but not before she won a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics. A few years later, she left her native California to attend college in Arizona, where she swam competitively. She won a 2001 NCAA championship.
This female sports model has accomplished so much in her 25 years. At the World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, in 2003, Beard won a gold medal in the 200-meter breaststroke, and she took home a silver medal in the 100-meter breaststroke as well as a 400-meter medley relay. In 2000, Beard won a bronze medal in the 200-meter breaststroke at the Olympics. At the 1996 Olympics, this female sports model took home the silver medal in the 100-meter breaststroke as well as the 200-meter breaststroke. She won a gold medal for her participation in the 400-meter medley relay, making her the second-youngest Olympic gold medallist in U.S. Olympic swimming history. She was just 14 and was often seen holding Harold, her favorite teddy bear.
Beard is also a world-record holder. Since 2003, she’s held the world record for the 200-meter breaststroke. And this female sports model held the United States record for the 100-meter breaststroke from 1996 through 1999.
Beard lives in Tucson, Arizona, where she is enrolled at the University of Arizona. She is decorating her new house and loves to shop. Now a female sports model, Beard makes many public appearances, has a $1 million contract to model Speedo’s new line of active swimwear, Axelerate, and is involved in animal conservation efforts as the spokesperson for Defenders of wildlife. She is also a savvy entrepreneur.
One business venture is a line of products that will bear her name that include care for skin, hair, sunscreen, perfume and more. She also has endorsement contracts with Red Bull, Orowheat bread and Penta-brand water. Beard is expected to earn more than $100 million by 2010. Other business pursuits include corporate speaking gigs, for which this female sports model earns $15,000 a pop. But Beard reportedly has high standards for the ventures she will enter into, turning down opportunities for reality television shows and infomercials. Beard has learned something as a retail and consumer sciences major at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
But with college and all these business commitments, this female sports model isn’t giving up on swimming just yet. She plans to train for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. Move over, Tiger Woods, you’ve got some competition in this female sports model. Amanda Beard is known as the world’s sexiest athlete, but she’s also a smart, independent woman who knows how to create her own brand.