Nikki Dryden

Nicole Dryden (born April 5, 1975) is a former competitive swimmer who represented Canada at two consecutive Summer Olympics. In her swimming career, she won 21 Canadian national titles and was a silver medalist in the 1991 Pan American Games. After completing a J.D. degree from Brooklyn Law School in 2005, she has practiced immigration and human rights law, initially in New York City.

Early years Dryden was born in Calgary, Alberta, in 1975, to Paula and Les Dryden. Her mother Paula, a nationally ranked Australian runner, would become part of the University of Victoria's physical education faculty. With Dryden's father Lou later serving as a vice-president at Camosun College, Dryden seemed destined for a future focused on academic achievement and athletics. In her earliest years she was coached by Hall of Fame Coach Howard Firby beginning around 1985 with the Juan de Fuca Cohoes Swim Club or the Victoria Olympians, both later associated with Island Swimming in Victoria. Firby coached the Cohoes and Olympians clubs from 1974 to 1986. By 1991, and earlier, already emerging as a national star, she competed in Victoria, and was coached by Canadian Hall of Fame Coach Ron Jacks with the Victoria Amateur Swim Club, also known as Island Swimming and the Victoria Olympians, where she swam at Victoria's Crystal Pool and Fitness Center. Jacks claimed to have been strongly influenced by Firby, who was considered a stroke specialist who studied aerodynamics and anatomy, and as a commercial artist often used drawings to illustrate what he wanted his swimmers to do. One of Dryden's teammates at Island swimming was Suzanne Weckend a world-rated backstroker. In 1993 she graduated Victoria's Mount Douglas Secondary School.

At the February 21-23, 1991 Winter Nationals in Calgary Dryden established a new Commonwealth and Canadian and Commonwealth record in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:12.18, won the 100-meter backstroke, and placed third in both the 100 backstroke and the 400 freestyle events.

Collegiate swimming Beginning in the fall of 1993, Dryden accepted a four-year athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, swimming only for two months under women's coach Mitch Ivey who left as coach in her freshman year, and then under men's and women's head coach Chris Martin. While attending Florida, she was a member of the Florida Gators swimming and diving team from 1993 to 1996. As a Gator swimmer she was a five-time Southeastern Conference (SEC) champion (twice in the 500-yard freestyle, twice in the 800-yard freestyle relay, and once in the 1,650-yard freestyle), and received nine All-American honors.

Dryden has also trained with the Vancouver Pacific Dolphins, associated with the University of Vancouver. She swam in during her collegiate years for the Manitoba Marlins in Winnipeg, Manitoba, during her time away from the University of Florida, around 1996, while training for the 1996 Olympics.

Dryden also volunteers as an athlete ambassador for several organizations that work to support the rights of children around the world, including Right To Play and SwimLanka. She is a celebrity swimmer for Swim Across America, a charitable organization that works with former Olympic swimmers to raise funds for cancer research.