Natalie Coughlin: Olympic swimmer's favorite things

Olympic swimmer's favorite things

Natalie Coughlin finds time to garden, cook - but she doesn't need reminder of her medals

"How do you have fun at a pool?" asked Coughlin, half joking, one day while drinking tea in her kitchen in Lafayette.

Coughlin is the most decorated American women's swimmer in modern Olympic history.

In the 2008 Summer Olympic games in Beijing, she became the first woman to win six medals in a single Olympics.

Coughlin, 29, began training in January 2010 for the 2012 Summer Games, to be held in London, which means a rigorous schedule of six-hour training days.

When Hall returned from a dog walk, Coughlin went to meet him outside, passing a towel that hung on the gate that read "Soggy Dog."

Seeing her, Dozer - "as in 'bulldozer,' and he stays true to his name," Coughlin says - heaved his 110 pounds out of the car and bolted down the walkway, lips everywhere.

Surprisingly, when asked to pick out her most meaningful objects, she sidelined her Olympic medals, which she keeps folded neatly into two makeup cases, locked in a safe.

The image was magnificent and overwhelming, but Coughlin is reluctant to display them in her home.

Carved into handle: "4/25/09" and "NCH," her wedding date and married initials.