Life After Competition Swimming
After the 1984 Olympic Games, the 21-year-old Caulkins decided to forego her senior year of NCAA eligibility at the University of Florida to focus on completing her degree requirements, and retired from competition swimming. She graduated from Florida with her bachelor's degree in broadcasting in 1985, and was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great." Caulkins was inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame in 1983, the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1990, and the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.
She married Mark Stockwell, an Olympic gold medal swimmer from Australia and a fellow University of Florida alumnus, and has lived in Australia since shortly after graduating from the University of Florida. They live in Queensland, Australia with their four children, twins Maddison and William born in 1995, Emily born in 1999, and Annie born in 2003. Caulkins remains involved with a series of physiotherapy clinics in Tennessee that bear her name.
On June 9, 2008, Caulkins (under her married name, Tracy Anne Stockwell) was recognized for "For service to sport as an administrator and proponent of sporting opportunities for women" with the Australian award of the Medal of the Order of Australia.
The gold medals won by Caulkins are represented in stone on the walk of Tennessee history, which is located at the Bicentennial Mall State Park in Nashville, and the Olympic pool at Nashville's Centennial Sportsplex is named after her.
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Famous quotes containing the words life, competition and/or swimming:
“I could lie down like a tired child,
And weep away the life of care
Which I have borne and yet must bear,
Till death like sleep might steal on me,”
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
“Wearing overalls on weekdays, painting somebody else’s house to earn money? You’re working class. Wearing overalls at weekends, painting your own house to save money? You’re middle class.”
—Lawrence Sutton, British prizewinner in competition in Sunday Correspondent (London)
“Awareness of having better things to do with their lives is the secret to immunizing our children against false values—whether presented on television or in “real life.” The child who finds fulfillment in music or reading or cooking or swimming or writing or drawing is not as easily convinced that he needs recognition or power or some “high” to feel worthwhile.”
—Polly Berrien Berends (20th century)