At the Beijing Olympics, Coughlin became the first American female athlete in modern Olympic history to win six medals in one Olympics and the first woman ever to win a 100 m backstroke gold in two consecutive Olympics.

Coughlin is known for her dominance in a short course pool and for her underwater kicking ability. She holds World, American and US Open records in various events and has eleven Olympic medals. She was the first woman to go under 59 seconds in the long course 100 m backstroke.

Prior to the 2004 Olympics, she was a student-athlete at Carondelet High School in Concord CA, Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California, then later at the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a BA in psychology in 2005. She had won twelve National Collegiate Athletic Association Swimmer of the Year honors in her first three years at the university.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Coughlin became the first American female athlete in modern Olympic history to win six medals in one Olympics.