The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Hall of Honor
- Induction:
- 2022
- Class:
- 1994
A versatile swimmer who had success in a number of different events during her standout career at Texas, B.J. Bedford was a 21-time All-American, two-time National Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist. She was a member of the Longhorns national title winning 200 Medley Relay team in 1991, helping Texas win the National Championship that year, and won gold with the Longhorns’ 200 Freestyle Relay team in 1992. On the conference level, Bedford won five Southwest Conference individual titles — 100-butterfly in 1991 and ’92, 100 and 200-back in 1994, and 200-IM in 1991 — and also was a member of six conference champion relay teams. A member of the USA Swimming National Team for a decade, she won eight U.S. national titles in her career, including six in the 100m back. Bedford also had great success on the international level, competing in a trio U.S. Olympic Trials and making the finals of the 100-back all three times. She finished seventh in the 100-back at the 1992 Olympic Trials and a heart-breaking third in 1996 before winning the event at the 2000 Olympic Trials to make her first Olympic team. That allowed her to close out her career in victorious fashion as a member of the 2000 Olympic team in Sydney. She made the finals in the 100-back individually, finishing sixth, and won a Gold Medal with the 400-medley relay team that set the world record in that event. At the 1998 FINA World Championships, she won a pair of gold medals, swimming a leg on Team USA’s victorious 400-freestyle and 400-medley relays. She also won numerous medals competing at virtually every possible international event during her career. Bedford made her first national team in 1991, competing at the World University Games and claiming a pair of gold medals in the 100-back and 400-medley relay. She won two more golds in those events at the 1993 World University Games. In 1993, she also won gold in the 200-back and silver in the 100-back at the Pan Pacific Championships, while 1994 saw her bring home three medals from the Goodwill Games (200-back, gold; 100-back & 400-medley relay, silver). At the FINA World Championships that year, Bedford was the bronze medalist in the 100-back. She won three gold medals at the 1995 Pan American Games (100 & 200-back; 400-medley relay) and a pair of medals (400-medley relay, gold; 100-back, bronze) at the 1999 Pan Pacific Championships. A native of Etna, N.H., she graduated from UT in 1994.
