Editing Claudia Poll (section)

==Career==
Claudia Poll began swimming in 1979 under coach Francisco Rivas and quickly became one of the best in Central America, winning many regional titles.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

At the [[1996 Atlanta Olympics]] she won the gold medal in the 200 m freestyle event.  The win was the first gold medal for Costa Rica in the Summer Olympic Games.   It was a surprising win because she beat the favorite German [[Franziska van Almsick]].  [[Dagmar Hase]] from Germany won the bronze.

In 1997, she was named by ''[[Swimming World Magazine]]'' as the Female Swimmer of the Year.<ref>[http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/SwimmersOfTheYear.asp  Swimming World Magazine Presents: WORLD SWIMMERS OF THE YEAR]</ref>

At the [[2000 Summer Olympics|Sydney 2000]], Poll continued with her medal run and won two bronze medals. In [[2004 Summer Olympics|Athens 2004]], she just missed out on the 400 m freestyle final, finishing ninth in the heats.

In 2002, she was given a four-year doping ban after a failed test for norandrosterone, a metabolite the steroid [[nandrolone]]. Her ban was later reduced by [[World Aquatics|FINA]] (International Swimming Federation) to two years. Poll claimed that the test and sampling methods were flawed and protested her innocence.<ref>[https://archive.today/20130203104856/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/5886.asp?q=Claudia-Poll's-Ban-Is-Cut;-she's-Cleared-for-Athens-2004 Claudia Poll's Ban Is Cut; she's Cleared for Athens 2004]. ''Swimming World Magazine'' (2003-09-24). Retrieved on 2012-08-25.</ref>

At the [[Swimming at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games|2006 Central American and Caribbean Games]], she set the [[List of Central American and Caribbean Games records in swimming|Games Records]] in the 200 and 400 freestyles (2:00.19 and 4:15.01), bettering the time her sister [[Silvia Poll|Silvia]] set at the [[1986 Central American and Caribbean Games]].<ref>[http://www.cartagena2006.gov.co/SP/showpage.aspx?d=NAT&n=4,1,1,3,2 Women's 200 free]{{dead link|date=August 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} and [http://www.cartagena2006.gov.co/SP/showpage.aspx?d=NAT&n=4,1,1,4,1 400 free-prelim]{{dead link|date=August 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}/[http://www.cartagena2006.gov.co/SP/showpage.aspx?d=NAT&n=4,1,1,4,2 final]{{dead link|date=August 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. 2006 Cartagena. Retrieved 2009-06-21.</ref>

Poll served as a swimming analyst for the U.S. [[Telemundo]] network's Spanish-language coverage of the [[2012 Summer Olympics]] in London, though she and most of the Telemundo broadcast crew performed their duties at the network's studios in [[Hialeah, Florida]], accompanied by video provided by [[Olympic Broadcasting Services]].<ref>[https://archive.today/20130129212852/http://nbcumv.com/mediavillage/networks/telemundo/pressreleases?pr=contents/press-releases/2012/07/25/telemundomedial1343235428163.xml Telemundo press release, July 25, 2012]</ref>