Anita NALL

Anita Nall, or more fully Nadia Anita Louise Nall, was named after Romanian gymnastic star Nadia Comăneci, after her parents had seen her star at the 1976 Montréal Olympics. However, Nall never went into gymnastics, preferring the swimming pool. She began training at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, later the home of another pretty good swimmer, Michael Phelps. A breaststroker, Nall swam in college at Arizona State University.

Nall won three medals at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, with a gold in the medley relay, silver in the 100 breast, and bronze in the 200 breast. Her greatest meet came in 1993 when she won three golds at the Pan Pacific Championships, winning both breaststrokes and in the medley relay. She set two LCM individual world records, in the 200 breaststroke at the 1992 Olympic Trials, first in the preliminaries, and then in the final. At the time Nall was only 15-years-old, although she turned 16 just before the Barcelona Games.

Nall continued to compete through 2000, despite battling with health issues, including chronic fatigue syndrome. She won a bronze medal in the 200 breaststroke at the 1995 Pan American Games, and a bronze in the medley relay at the 2000 short-course Worlds. She and her husband, Luke Richesson, settled in Florida, where he became the strength and conditioning coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL. Nall worked as a holistic nutrition specialist and Certified Life Coach with her own business.