Mary T. Meagher

Meagher made the U.S. Olympic team for the 100-meter and 200-meter butterfly and for one freestyle race. At her peak, she was prepared for the 1980 Olympics, but her hopes were crushed along with those of many other American athletes when President Jimmy Carter issued a U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympics to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Later learning that she could have beaten the winners' time, Meagher was so downhearted she nearly gave up swimming. Instead, the following year she unleashed her Olympic energy at the Long-Course Senior National Swimming Championships in Brown Deer, Wisconsin, setting a world record in the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 57.93. She also won a gold medal in the 200-meter butterfly, setting a world record of 2:05.96 and finishing fifteen meters ahead of the second-place winner. The audience gave Madame Butterfly a standing ovation.