Amy Van Dyken-Rouen plans to attend the U.S. Olympic swimming trials this summer, 20 years after she won four gold medals at the Atlanta Games and two years after severing her spine in an ATV accident, according to the Arizona Republic.
The Olympic trials are June 26-July 3 in Omaha, with the top two finishers in each individual final clinching spots on the U.S. Olympic team for Rio in August.
Van Dyken-Rouen said she was told by doctors she’d probably never walk again after being paralyzed from the waist down in her June 6, 2014, accident but continues to make progress.
She has taken steps with the aid of braces and a walker in videos on her Instagram -- 50 steps takes her almost 30 minutes, according to her recent Q&A with Jeff Pearlman.
In 2012, Van Dyken-Rouen covered the U.S. Olympic trials in Omaha for Fox Sports. She returned to the broadcast booth in January to call swimming on the Pac-12 Network.
In 1996, Van Dyken-Rouen swept the 50m and 100m freestyles at the Olympic trials in Indianapolis.
She then won the 50m free and 100m butterfly at the Atlanta Olympics, plus picked up 4x100m free and 4x100m medley relay golds to be the most decorated female athlete at those Games and first U.S. woman to earn four golds at a single Olympics.