Barbara Bedford

Barbara Jane Bedford (born November 9, 1972), who competed as BJ Bedford, currently known by her married name, Barbara Miller, is an American former competition swimmer for the University of Texas, a 2000 Sydney Olympic champion, and a former world record-holder.

Bedford was born on November 9, 1972, in Hanover, New Hampshire, as the youngest of four children with three older brothers. She took to swimming by the age of five as part of a swimming family, as her brother Fritz was an All American at St. Lawrence, and brother Ed was an NCAA Division III Butterfly champion. helping the Hanover Swim Team win the Division 1 State Swim Meet. She continued winning events for Hanover as a ten year old in July, 1983. She attended her Sophomore year at Kimball Union Academy.

Peddie School Beginning in her high school junior year, in the fall of 1988, she competed for swimming powerhouse Peddie School in Hightstown, New Jersey under coach Chris Martin. Martin coached the Peddie School from 1986 to 1992, and led the Peddie girls’ team to win their first combined national championship for public and independent schools in 1989. Martin would coach at the University of Florida in 1992. In the 1988 Eastern Interscholastic High School Championships, she won the 100 backstroke in 1:03.9, and placed second in the 50-freestyle. A strong regional competitor, Peddie School would win the team championships at the 1989 Eastern Interscholastic Championships as well. She won a gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke and a silver in the medley relay in the summer of her High School Junior year at the U.S. Olympic festival in Oklahoma. At the U.S. Senior Nationals, she finished fifth in the 100-meter backstroke in her Junior year. She was able to attend the Pan Pacifics as the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th-place finishers at U.S. Nationals either scratched or didn't want to attend.

Helping Peddie School win the team championship at the Eastern Interscholastic Championships at LaSalle University in February, 1990, she placed first in the 100 backstroke with a highly improved 55.63, breaking the national prep record, and placed first in the 400 freestyle relay, second in the 200-yard medley relay, and first in the 200 Individual Medley with a meet record time of 2:02.81. Overall, in her career at Peddie, she help lead the team to three consecutive Eastern Championships and was on the team that placed second at Nationals in 1990. By her Junior year at Peddie School, she increased her daily swim yardage from 5000 to 16,000 yards. Sterkel was an American Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame recipient.

Olympic trials She finished seventh in the 100-back at the 1992 Olympic Trials, and was seriously disappointed with her third in the 100-back in 1996, preventing her from qualifying for the team. She continued to compete internationally for the U.S. team from 1993 to 2000, taking two golds at the Pan Pacific Championships, in the 200 backstroke in 1993 and the medley relay in 1999.

After qualifying in the trials, Bedford represented the United States at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Swimming the backstroke leg, she was a member of the U.S. team that won the Olympic gold medal in the women's 4×100-meter medley relay and set a new world record of 3:58.30 in the event final. Her record-setting teammates included Megan Quann (breaststroke), Jenny Thompson (butterfly), and Dara Torres (freestyle).

After completing 10 years with the USA Swimming National Team, Bedford, retired from competitive swimming in early 2001. Her official statement of retirement to the press came at the end of the World Cup short-course swimming meet in January, 2001 in Paris.

Honors She is a member of the University of Texas Athletic Hall of Fame,