The 50 Most Interesting Athletes: Water Polo’s Ashleigh Johnson
BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Princeton University alumna Ashleigh Johnson continues to be recognized among the elite athletes regardless of sport or gender as she is featured among 2023’s The 50 Most Interesting Athletes.
An All-America selection every season she competed at Princeton, Johnson led the United States to the gold medal in women’s water polo at the 2016 Rio and 2020/2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, becoming just the fifth Princeton athlete to win multiple gold medals.
Named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 in the Sports category and a 2017 Princeton graduate, Johnson is among only two Tigers’ athletes ever to win an Olympic gold medal (in 2016) and then come back to compete at Princeton (former United States Senator/men’s basketball player Bill Bradley was the other).
The recipient of the C. Otto von Kienbusch and Cutino Awards during her senior season in 2017, she was the first player in Princeton women’s water polo history to be named first team All-America and third ever to be selected All-America in each of her four seasons. Johnson finished her Princeton career with a 100-17 record, along with a school-record 1,362 saves and a .693 save percentage. She was a 19-time CWPA Defensive Player of the Week award winner, a four-time first-team all-conference player and the CWPA Player of the Year.
The FIFTY strives to tell the stories of the most interesting athletes in the world. Through an innovative nomination process and an internal, highly selective process, the site looks to undercover stories of courage, change, achievement, triumph over doubt and the relentless pursuit of athletic perfection.
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