Gaderian Wines co-owner and Olympic swimming legend Natalie Coughlin Hall is back at the Olympics in 2024, this time working as a new board member of USA Swimming and as an analyst for NBC.
Coughlin Hall, who grew up visiting wine country with her parents, was 19 and a student-athlete at U.C. Berkeley when she became the first woman to break the 1-minute barrier in the 100-meter backstroke, an event she would dominate for a decade, winning gold at both the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Games; her 12 Olympic medals tied her with swimmers Dara Torres and Jenny Thompson’s as the most by any female American athlete—at least until Katie Ledecky came along. Ledecky just finished her Paris 2024 Olympics by earning her 14th Olympic medal, an achievement that Coughlin has been looking forward to.
The California swimming legend, who's also published a memoir (Golden Girl, 2006) and a cookbook (Cook to Thrive, 2019), co-founded Napa’s Gaderian Wines in 2017 with winemaker Shaina Harding, who now also makes the wines at Napa’s Boeschen Vineyards in St. Helena.
Coughlin Hall will be due back in Napa for harvest, but right now she’s cheering on her fellow Americans in Paris, and she checked in with Wine Spectator just as the swimming events were getting underway.
“I’m in Paris on the way to the swim venue right now, which is so exciting,” Coughlin Hall told Wine Spectator on the first day of the Paris 2024 Olympics swimming competition. “Ryan Murphy is one of my former Cal teammates, and so I’m going to be cheering like hell for him in the medley relay and backstroke events.
”On the women’s side, I’m really excited by the Walsh sisters and Kate Douglass. They are super versatile, strong women who have had a lot of momentum heading into these Games. Also, Katie Ledecky is such a badass and going to break my record for most decorated female American Olympian for sure!
”When I get home I’ll celebrate the American successes with our Gaderian blanc de noirs. It’s the perfect celebratory sparkle-y wine for a French Olympics.”
Coughlin Hall surely won’t be the only one splashing some bubbles after making a splash in Paris.
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