Lia Neal Bio

Date of Birth: February 13, 1995

Sport: Swimming

Height: 5-10

DOB: 2/13/1995

Birthplace: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Hometown: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Born and raised in Fort Greene, Brooklyn by her parents Rome and Siu Neal, who are of African-American and Chinese-American descent. She has three older brothers
Lia speaks English, Cantonese, and Mandarin

Career Highlights Include:

2012 Olympic Games: Bronze in 4x100m Freestyle Relay
First Afr. Am. woman to swim in an Olympic final
2016 Olympic Games: Silver in 4x100m Freestyle Relay
First Afr. Am. woman to swim in multiple Olympic games
Member of the 2017 NCAA championship team
Co-captain of Stanford Women’s Swimming (2017)
Three-time Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention (2015, 2016, 2017)
26x All-American
Finished career with five school records
Finished career ranked second all-time at Stanford in the 50 free (21.65)
Finished career ranked second all-time at Stanford in the 100 free (46.76)
Finished career ranked third all-time at Stanford in the 200 free (1:42.50)
2011 World Junior Championships: Gold in 100m Freestyle, Silver in 50m Freestyle.
2010 Junior Pan Pacific Championships: Gold in 4x100m Freestyle Relay, Gold in 800m Freestyle Relay, Gold in 400m Medley Relay, Silver in 100m Freestyle, and Bronze in 50m Freestyle.
2008 Olympic Trials participant having qualified by breaking the 11-12 age-group record in the 100m Freestyle.

Swimming History

Interesting Facts