| Katrina Radke | |
| Birth Date: | December 17, 1970 |
| Birth Place: | Morris, Minnesota, U.S.[1] |
| Education: | |
| Occupation: | Swimmer, MFT, author, college professor, television personality |
| Employer: | Foothill College |
| Swimming career | |
| National Team: | USA Swimming |
| Strokes: | Butterfly, freestyle |
| Club: | Germantown Academy Aquatic Club |
| Coach: | Dick Shoulberg (Germantown Academy) |
| Collegeteam: | University of California |
| Height: | 5feet |
| Weight: | 137lb |
| Show-Medals: | yes |
Katrina Diane Radke Gerry (born December 17, 1970) is a former competitive swimmer who represented the United States at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
Radke was born December 17, 1970.[2] She was raised in Morris, Minnesota. She broke all of the Minnesota Age Group State Records, except breaststroke. In 1982 and 1983, her family lived in Adelaide, Australia, where she swam for the Burnside Southside Swim Club, breaking several State Age Group Records.
At the age of 13, she and her family moved to Emmaus, Pennsylvania. By the time she was 14, she landed a spot on the U.S. National Swim Team, where she was its youngest member.[3]
Radke won gold medals at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in 1985 and 1987 as part of the 800-meter (4 × 200 m) Freestyle Relay Team.[4]
In 1988, as a member of the U.S. Olympic Swim Team, she finished fifth in the final of the women's 200-meter butterfly event at the Seoul Olympics, recording a time of 2:11.55.[5]
During this time, she was also a member of the swim team at her high school, Germantown Academy in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, where she swam for Hall of Fame Coach Dick Shoulberg. At Germantown Academy, she was a member of a swimming team that won the team national title, and Radke broke two national prep school records.[6] [7]
In 1990, Radke won two more international gold medals and broke national records in Italy. She was captain of the USA Swimming in 1991.
Upon graduating from Germantown Academy in 1989, she enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, where she broke school records and was All American each year, while swimming for their varsity team. During her time in college, she also continued swimming for Team USA, winning two more gold medals along the way,[8] while becoming a national champion swimmer in the 200-meter butterfly at the 1990 U.S. Long-Course Championships, where she competed alongside other swimmers, including Janet Evans.[9] Radke also was a co-captain on Team USA. She graduated Berkeley with a Bachelor's degree in International Business and Ethics, and a Minor in Russian Language, and then earned a Master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy at Southern Connecticut State University, and completing part of her internship through Yale School of Medicine.[10]
While still in high school, Radke contracted mononucleosis. Despite this, she continued to compete in swim meets even at the highest level. In 1991, she learned that she had chronic fatigue syndrome, which forced her to sit out the 1992 Olympic trials. Soon, her condition got so bad, that she found herself bedridden and had to use handicapped parking spaces when driving.[11] In 1993, she retired from competitive swimming due to her ongoing bout with CFIDS. After 12 years of battling the disease, she finally felt well enough to attempt a comeback in Olympic swimming. She participated in the 2004 Olympic trials, thus enabling her to re-enter the world rankings after more than a decade of retirement.
In 2012, Radke authored and released a book on her life story and struggles with CFIDS, entitled Be Your Best Without the Stress.
See main article: Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers. On August 30, 2017, it was announced that Radke was one of 18 competitors on , the 35th season of the US version of Survivor.[12] She was part of the Levu (Heroes) tribe. Radke became the first person voted out of Season 35, due to her being the oldest person on that season, according to the editing done by CBS.
Radke is married to former Stanford University and Olympic swim coach Ross Gerry. They reside in Excelsior, Minnesota and have two children.
Radke works as a marriage and family therapist (MFT), and an online professor for Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California. She and her husband run a motivational coaching and health business in the Twin Cities, called WeCoach4U. In addition, she is a contributing writer to Swim Swam magazine;[13] and in 2016, she was elected president of the newly-formed Minnesota chapter of the United States Olympians and Paralympians Association.[14]