Rebecca Soni /

Rebecca Soni (born March 18, 1987) is an American breaststroke swimmer and three-time (one gold, two silver) Olympic medalist. She currently holds the world record in the 100 and 200 m breaststroke (short course) and is a former world-record holder in the 100 and 200 m breaststroke (long course). Soni has won a total of fifteen medals in major international competition, nine gold, and six silver spanning the Olympics, the World, the Universiade, and the Pan Pacific Championships. She burst onto the international scene at the 2008 Summer Olympics where she won two silver medals and one gold. In the 200 m breaststroke at the Olympics, she set the world record en route to winning gold, shocking Australian favourite Leisel Jones. She won Swimming World's World Swimmer of the Year award in 2010 and the American Swimmer of the Year award in 2009 and 2010. Soni was born in Freehold Borough, New Jersey in 1987, the daughter of Péter and Kinga Sőni. Soni's parents are of Hungarian and Romanian descent; they emigrated from Cluj-Napoca, Romania in the 1980s. Her father works in real estate and her mother is a nurse. Besides English, Soni also speaks Hungarian.