Janet Evans is an American former Olympic swimmer. By the age of 11, she was setting national swimming age group records in distance events. Evans attended Stanford University, where she swam. She received the Honda Sports Award for Swimming and Diving, recognizing her as the outstanding college female swimmer of the year in 1988–89.

Evans specialized in distance freestyle events. She is a former world champion and was world record-holder. Evans won a total of four gold medals at the 1988 and the 1992 Olympics. Janet Evans was the 1989 recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States. She was named the Female World Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World Magazine in 1987, 1989, and 1990. Evans was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in 2001. In 2010, Evans returned to competitive swimming in Masters swimming. 

Evans served as Vice Chair and Athletes director for the Los Angeles 2024 Olympic bid committee and traveled with the team to promote Los Angeles as a candidate city. Los Angeles would eventually be awarded the 2028 Summer Olympics location.