Mary T. Meagher
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| Olympic medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Competitor for  United States |
|||
| Women's Swimming | |||
| Gold | Los Angeles 1984 | 100m Butterfly | |
| Gold | Los Angeles 1984 | 200m Butterfly | |
| Gold | Los Angeles 1984 | 4x100m Medley Relay | |
| Bronze | Seoul 1988 | 200m Butterfly | |
Mary Terstegge Meagher Plant (born October 27, 1964 in Louisville, Kentucky) is a former competitive swimmer from the United States. Meagher, originally from Kentucky, began competing at an early age, setting her first world record in the butterfly at the age of 14 in 1979 at the Pan American Games.
Meagher was expected to compete for medals at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, Russia. However, Meagher, along with the rest of the United States Olympic team, never got her chance due to President Jimmy Carter's boycott of the Olympics. However, in 1981 Meagher gave one of the most memorable performances in competitive swimming at the US National Swimming Championships held in Brown Deer, Wisconsin in 1981. At the meet, Meagher set world records in both the 200 meter and 100 meter butterfly, the two primary distances at which the butterfly is contested in competitive swimming. The times for both records were considered astonishing, especially the record of 57.93 seconds that Meagher set in the 100m. Both times would stand for nearly two decades - American swimmer Jenny Thompson broke the record in the 100m in 1999 while Susie O'Neill of Australia set the record in the 200m a year later. Some have argued that Meagher's records in the butterfly were among the most impressive records ever set in sport, let alone swimming, ranking among such noteworthy records as Bob Beamon's long jump world record in 1968. This lead to her being named Female World Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World magazine, which she again won in 1985. She swam collegiately for UC Berkeley, graduating in 1987 with a BA in Social Sciences. [1]
At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California Meagher won gold medals in both the 100m and 200m butterfly races, along with another gold by swimming the butterfly leg of the women's medley relay. Returning to compete at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, Meagher won a bronze medal in the 200m butterfly. By the time she left competitive swimming, Meagher had won 24 US national swimming titles.
Meagher married former speed skater Mike Plant; they now live in Peachtree City, Georgia. Meagher is also the sister of Kentucky Republican Representative Anne Northup. There is a swimming complex in Louisville named for Meagher, as well as a street in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| Olympic champions in women's 100 m butterfly |
|---|
| 1956: Shelley Mann | 1960: Carolyn Schuler | 1964: Sharon Stouder | 1968: Lyn McClements | 1972: Mayumi Aoki | 1976: Kornelia Ender | 1980: Caren Metschuck | 1984: Mary T. Meagher | 1988: Kristin Otto | 1992: Qian Hong | 1996: Amy Van Dyken | 2000: Inge de Bruijn | 2004: Petria Thomas |
| Olympic champions in women's 200 m butterfly |
|---|
| 1968: Ada Kok | 1972: Karen Moe | 1976: Andrea Pollack | 1980: Ines Geißler | 1984: Mary T. Meagher | 1988: Kathleen Nord | 1992: Summer Sanders | 1996: Susie O'Neill | 2000: Misty Hyman | 2004: Otylia Jędrzejczak |
Categories: 1964 births | American butterfly swimmers | Living people | Multiple Olympic gold medalists | Olympic swimmers of the United States | People from Louisville | Swimmers at the 1984 Summer Olympics | Swimmers at the 1988 Summer Olympics | Swimming World World Swimmers of the Year | University of California, Berkeley alumni
