Amy van Dyken was born in Englewood, Colorado,in 1973. she was a sick child. the doctors in told her parents that amy hab asthma. people with asthma sometime can't breathe. Amy went to the hospital many times when she was young. she couldn't do the things other children could do. then she started to swim and liked it. when she swam, she coul be like all the other childen. in the beginning, she was sloe. when there was a race, she was always the last. it was very hard for her, but she swam faster and faster. when she was 13, she started to win races.