Jacuzzi® Performance: Olympian and World Champion Freestyle Swimmer Janet Evans

I started swimming when I was about 18 months old, because my mom can’t swim. So, my parents put us in swimming. I joined a local swim team, and I was good, I wasn’t great, but I liked to win, I was very competitive, and I made it my goal to go to the Olympics.

My name is Janet Evans. I was an Olympic swimmer in the 1988, 1992, and 1996 Olympics. Winning a gold medal was the ultimate dream for an athlete like myself. So, in my total career I broke seven world records. It was a combination of working hard and having great coaches and having a great family to support me.

Water is my safe place, it’s my therapy, it’s my meditation. I’m happiest in the water. I have a curve in my back, I have scoliosis as I always have, and swimming really elongates that. It’s a non-impact sport, and it’s such a great sport for your body.

I don’t have time to swim every day, which is kind of my physical therapy for my back. So, having a hot tub in our backyard is perfect for me, I can go get some hydrotherapy on my back. Because my back hurts at the end of the day and for me it’s like this peaceful soak in warm water. The water stretches me out, I can work on stretching my back out the jets in the hot tub, I can make them so they’re specifically on my back where I have pain at the end of the day.

I wake up in the morning, my back feels better. It’s not as stiff, it’s a little more stretched out and linked and elongated.