Meagher, Mary T.
Swimming
b. Oct. 27, 1964, Louisville, KY
A phenomenal butterfly swimmer, Meagher set her first world record before her fifteenth birthday, beating former record-holder Tracy Caulkins by seven yards in the 200-meter event at the 1979 Pan-American Games. The following April, she set a world record of 59.26 seconds in the 100-meter butterfly.
Meagher qualified for five events, including two relays, at the 1980 U. S. Olympic trials, but the U. S. boycotted the Moscow Games that year. Her qualifying times at the trials would have won gold medals. She thought about retiring because of her disappointment, but decided instead to look ahead to the 1984 Olympics.
At the 1981 national long-course championships, Meagher lowered both of her world records, winning the 100-meter butterfly in 57.93, the 200-meter in 2:05.96. Those records stood for more than twelve years.
She entered the University of California in 1982 and won the NCAA 200-yard butterfly as a freshman at the 1983 meet. Her decision to continue competing was rewarded with three gold medals at the 1984 Olympics, in the two butterfly events and as a member of the 4 by 100-meter medley relay team. Her 2:06.90 in the 200-meter gave her the seven fastest times ever in that event. She was also the national indoor champion in both butterfly races and in the 200-meter freestyle in 1984.
Meagher won the NCAA 200-yard butterfly three years in a row, 1985 through 1987, and was the 100-yard champion in 1985 and in 1987, when she won the Honda Broderick Cup as the nation's outstanding female college athlete. Her time of 54.42 in the 100-yard event in 1987 was another world record.
In 1985, Meagher won both national butterfly championships in the short-course and long-course meets. She was world champion in the 200-meter butterfly in 1986, and she also won silver medals in the 100-meter butterfly and 4 by 100-meter medley relay, along with a bronze in the 400-meter freestyle. She closed out her career with a bronze medal in the 200-meter butterfly at the 1988 Olympics.