Janet Beth Evans (born August 28, 1971) is an American former competition swimmer who swam from 1989 to 1992 for Stanford University and specialized in distance freestyle events.

[2][3] Born in Fullerton, California, Evans grew up in neighboring Placentia, where she started swimming competitively by the age of 5.

She swam as a teenager for Fullerton Aquatics Sports Team (FAST Swimming) where her most influential coach in the mid-1980's was Bud McAllister.

[8] At Stanford, she received the Honda Sports Award for Swimming and Diving, recognizing her as the outstanding college female swimmer of the year in 1988–89.

After enrolling for the Spring semester in 1993, Evans graduated from the University of Southern California with a bachelor's degree in communications in 1994, where Mark Schubert had moved and continued his coaching career.

[6] Evans held the 1,500-meter freestyle record, set in March 1988, through June 2007, when it was broken by American Kate Ziegler with her time of 15:42.54.

Only the 100-meter freestyle swimming record set by the Dutch swimmer Willy den Ouden stood longer—from 1936 through 1956, during a period when international competition was interrupted by world war.

[6] Following her 1988 Olympics performance, Evans continued to dominate the world's long-distance swimming competitions, remaining undefeated in all of the 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle events for over five years.

At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, she also won a gold in the 800-meter freestyle in 8:25.52, another signature distance event, finishing nearly 5 seconds ahead of Australia's Haley Lewis.

[6] At the 1996 Atlanta Games, American swimming officials criticized Ireland's Michelle Smith about her unexpected gold medals,[20] suggesting that she might have been using performance-enhancing drugs.

[22] In June 2011, it was reported that Evans was in the process of a comeback and had been training for six months with the goal of competing at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials.

[27] Los Angeles was ultimately awarded the 2028 Summer Olympics at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru, on September 13, 2017.

[28] As of 2020, Evans works with the organizing committee for the 2028 Summer Olympics in the executive leadership role of chief athlete officer.

[31] Janet Evans was the 1989 recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States.