Becky Dyroen-Lancer - World And Olympic Gold Medals

In the 1994 Goodwill Games, Lancer won the silver medal as a soloist, won the figures portion, and with teammate Jill Sudduth, she earned the gold medal for the duet event. Lancer continued to strike gold at the 1994 World Aquatic Championships in Rome by winning three gold medals, more than any other American, for the solo, duet, and team titles. This performance made her the first American in more than twenty years to win all three events at the world championships. Not since Tracie Ruiz in 1982 had a U.S. synchronized swimmer won the solo event. Incidentally, the U.S. team that year swept all the events, which included swimming, diving, and water polo.

Lancer saw another prolific award season in 1994 with championships in the French Open, French Winter Nationals, Jantzen Nationals, and World championships. Repeat performances included two more USOC Top Ten Sports Woman of the Year award and Swimming World's World Synchronized Swimmer of the Year for years 1994 and 1995. She was also a three-time Women's Sports Foundation SportsWoman of the Year finalist.

In 1995, among even more championships in the US and around the world, including the Pan American Games, Lancer won the FINA Prize, the highest award given to an aquatics sports participant. In the Nations-Bank Synchronized Swimming World Cup in Atlanta, Team USA swept the events and Lancer achieved her ninth consecutive grand slam since 1992 in solo, duet, team, and figures events. In the US Olympic Team trials that year, Lancer won first place by receiving a perfect score of ten 10s, an American record and the first for a competitor in a major international competition.

Beginning with the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, the Olympics Committee eliminated the synchronized swimming solo, duet, and figures competitions and settled for a single 10-member team competition. Under the new rules, Lancer lost her chance to win gold in solo and duet, yet she was delighted when her sister, Suzannah Bianco, earned the 10th and final spot on the team. As expected, the US Team won the Olympic gold medal.

Lancer is still active in her sport and in community projects. She coaches the Cerritos Synchronettes synchronized swimming club team in Southern California for girls aged six to seventeen. She is an Avon Products representative who has appeared in print ads for the beauty products company. Having undergone open heart surgery as a child, she now volunteers for the American Heart Association.

She has been a member of USSS Executive Committee, and on July 20, 2000, Lancer participated with other champion female athletes in the Women Sports Foundation's second annual awards luncheon in Hollywood. She continues to be a member of the Santa Clara Aquamaids.

Dipping her toe into pop culture, Lancer is credited as the synchronized swimming choreographer for the 1998 movie Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and she was a member of the cast of Cirque Du Soleil's water performance O. Her hobbies include ballet, art, costume design, bicycling, and horticulture.

Whether she's performing solo, with a teammate in a duet, or sharing the spotlight as a member of a group, Becky Dyroen-Lancer dominated the sport of synchronized swimming.