Melanie Margalis

Melanie Ann Margalis-Fink (née Margalis; born December 30, 1991) is an American competitive swimmer who competed for the University of Georgia and specialized in the freestyle, breaststroke and individual medley events. Margalis represented the Cali Condors which was part of the International Swimming League. She won a gold medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics in the Women's 4×200-meter freestyle relay.

Career High school career Margalis graduated from Countryside High School, where she was also a club swimmer for Saint Petersburg Aquatics. There, she was coached by Fred Lewis. In high school swimming, she was a three-time state champion and held the state record in the 200-yard IM. For four years in a row, Margalis was named her teams’ MVP. Proving her versatility, she also swam the 500-yard free in 2009 in which she also won a state championship. After her performances that season, she was named the 2009-2010 Pinellas County Female Athlete of the Year. That same year, she was named to the National Youth Championship Team.

College career Margalis competed for the Georgia Bulldogs swimming and diving women's team at the University of Georgia. The Bulldog women's swimmers won the NCAA Division I women's team title in 2013 and again in 2014.

2013 Margalis won gold in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay as a member of the preliminary team and bronze in the 200-meter individual medley at the 2013 World University Games in Kazan, Russia.

2014 At the 2014 National Championships, Margalis won the 200-meter IM and finished third in both the 400-meter IM and 200-meter breaststroke to earn a roster spot on the Pan Pac team — she finished 12th in the 400-meter IM and ninth in the 200-meter IM. Later that year she also competed at the 2014 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m), swimming the IM events. She won a bronze in the 200-meter IM and finished sixth in the 100-meter IM.

2017 At the 2017 World Aquatics Championships, Margalis had a strong swim in the 200-meter IM, but could not hold off the final 50 surge of US teammate Madisyn Cox, and finished fourth. In 4x200-meter freestyle relay, Leah Smith led off for the Americans in a personal best 1:55.97. Mallory Comerford (1:56.92) and Margalis (1:56.48) took over the middle legs of the relay as they battled down the stretch with China and Russia. It was a very tight race with China going into the final leg, but Katie Ledecky took off with a 1:54.02 split to help the Americans strike gold again.

At the 2017 Winter Nationals Championships Margalis had a busy weekend as she competed in five individual events and managed to grab three individual titles. She broke the Championship Record in the 200-yard IM with a time of 1:52.63 and finished first in 400-yard IM and 100-yard breaststroke.

Coaching career In 2022, she was hired as assistant coach at Georgia Tech, and was later hired as an assistant coach at SMU in 2023.

Personal life She is married to swimmer Nic Fink, who won three medals at the 2024 Summer Olympics.