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Michelle Smith

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For other people named Michelle Smith, see Michelle Smith (disambiguation).

Michelle Smith
Medal record
Women's swimming
Representing  Ireland
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1996 Atlanta 400 m freestyle
Gold medal – first place 1996 Atlanta 200 m individual medley
Gold medal – first place 1996 Atlanta 400 m individual medley
Bronze medal – third place 1996 Atlanta 200 m butterfly
European Championships (LC)
Gold medal – first place 1995 Vienna 200 m butterfly
Gold medal – first place 1995 Vienna 200 m individual medley
Gold medal – first place 1997 Seville 200 m freestyle
Gold medal – first place 1997 Seville 400 m individual medley
Silver medal – second place 1995 Vienna 400 m individual medley
Silver medal – second place 1997 Seville 400 m freestyle
Silver medal – second place 1997 Seville 200 m butterfly

Michelle Smith de Bruin (born 16 December 1969 in Rathcoole, County Dublin) is a retired Irish swimmer who achieved notable success in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, becoming Ireland's most successful Olympian to date, and whose career ended with a ban from the sporting authorities for tampering with a urine sample. She was a triple gold medallist at the Atlanta Games, for the 400 m individual medley, 400 m freestyle and 200 m individual medley, and also won the bronze medal for the 200 m butterfly event: these events were marked by allegations of doping which were, however, never proven. Michelle Smith, now more commonly referred to by her married name, Michelle Smith de Bruin, is currently a practising barrister.

Swimming career

Michelle Smith's father taught his daughters how to swim, and Smith was first spotted by a lifeguard in Tallaght swimming pool at age 9. He suggested that Smith's father enroll his daughter in a swimming club. Smith joined Terenure Swimming Club and trained under the tutelage of Larry Williamson. Smith won the Dublin and All-Ireland Community Games at aged 9. She then won ten gold medals at a novice competition. She enrolled in the King's Hospital Swimming Club in 1980. At aged 14, Smith won ten medals at the Irish National Swimming Championships. At 14, she became National Junior and Senior Champion and dominated Irish women's swimming until her retirement in 1998.

Smith first appeared on the world scene as an 18-year-old at the Seoul Olympics and only narrowly missed the semi-finals (top 16). Smith's second major championship was at the 1991 World Championships in Perth, Australia, where she finished 13th in the 400 m individual medley. She competed at the 1991 European Championships and qualified for the 1992 Olympic Games. She competed in the 200 m medley and backstroke and 400 m medley in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, despite suffering an injury in the months leading up to the Games. In 1993 she trained with Erik de Bruin, whom she had met in Barcelona. She finished fifth in the 200 m butterfly at the 1994 World Championships. In that same year, she had suffered glandular fever, which affected her training prior to the World Championships.

In 1995, Smith set Irish records in 50 m, 100 m, 400 m and 800 m freestyle, 100 m backstroke, 100 m and 200 m butterfly, and 200 m and 400 m medley events. She was ranked number 1 in 200 m butterfly, sixth in 100 m butterfly and seventh in 200 m medley; she made sporting history by becoming the first Irishwoman to win a European title in 200 m butterfly and the individual 400 m medley in the same year.

1996 Olympics

Smith won three gold medals and a bronze medal in Atlanta, making her Ireland's most decoracted olympian. There was controversy at the Olympic games due to Smith qualifying for the 400m freestyle event at the expense of the then world-record holder Janet Evans, an American swimmer who finished ninth in the preliminary swims with only the top eight advancing. Smith did not submit her qualifying time for the 400m freestyle event before the 5 July deadline but did so two days later with the Irish Olympic officials insisting they had been given permission to submit the qualifying time after the deadline. Smith applied for the event after she had arrived in Atlanta. After Smith qualified at the expense of Evans, the US Swimming Federation, supported by the German and Netherlands swimming teams, challenged a decision to allow Smith to compete but were unsuccessful.[1] At a later conference, Evans highlighted that accusations of Smith doping had been heard by her around poolside.[2] Smith later received an apology from Evans as her comments led to Smith being treated poorly by US media.[3]

Sample tampering ban

Two years after the 1996 Summer Olympics, FINA banned Smith for four years for tampering with her urine sample using alcohol.[4][5] She appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Her case was heard by a panel of three experienced sports lawyers, including Michael Beloff QC. Unusually for a CAS hearing, De Bruin's case was heard in public, at her own lawyer's request.[6] FINA submitted evidence from Dr Jordi Segura, head of the IOC-accredited laboratory in Barcelona, which said she took androstenedione, a metabolic precursor of testosterone, in the previous 10 to 12 hours before being tested. It also became known that two previous samples, taken between November 1997 and March 1998, had also shown traces of androstenedione.[7][8] The CAS upheld the ban.

She was 28 at the time, and the ban effectively ended her competitive swimming career. Smith was not stripped of her Olympic medals, as only samples subsequent to her Olympic involvement tested positive.[9]

After the ban

Her experiences at the CAS had an effect beyond her swimming career. It was there that she developed an interest in the law; after officially announcing her retirement from swimming in 1999, she returned to university, graduating from University College Dublin with a degree in law. In July 2005 she was conferred with the degree of Barrister at Law of King's Inns, Dublin. While a student at the King's Inns she won the highly prestigious internal Brian Walsh Moot Court competition. Her first book, Transnational Litigation: Jurisdiction and Procedure was published in 2008 by Thomson Round Hall[10] which is respected in legal circles.[11]

In 2007, she appeared on Celebrities Go Wild, an RTÉ reality television show in which eight celebrities had to fend for themselves in the wilds of rural Connemara.[12]

Smith has always denied using illegal performance-enhancing drugs. In 1996, she released her autobiography, Gold, co-written with Cathal Dervan.

See also

References

  1. ^ Michael Beloff; Tim Kerr; Marie Demetriou; Rupert Beloff (19 October 2012). Sports Law. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 130–. ISBN 978-1-78225-034-0.
  2. ^ Hodgson, Guy (23 July 1996). "Swimming: Smith takes gold despite drug slur – Sport – The Independent". London.
  3. ^ "Michelle: I Forgive Evans; Smith Receives Apology From Fallen U.S. – Irish Voice | HighBeam Research".
  4. ^ "Sport | De Bruin banned". BBC News. 6 August 1998. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  5. ^ Crouse, Karen (3 August 2016). "Katinka Hosszu and Her Husband Raise Eyebrows at the Pool". nytimes.com. The New York Times. Retrieved 9 August 2016. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, Michelle Smith of Ireland won three gold medals while coached by her husband, a former discus thrower. But she had ascended to the top of international competition at a relatively late age and after a mediocre career. Two years later, she was barred from swimming when it was determined she had manipulated a drug test by spiking her urine sample with alcohol.
  6. ^ "Lane 9 News Archive: Michelle DeBruin's Ban Upheld: A Courtroom Account".
  7. ^ Mitchell, Kevin (29 February 2004). "How waters rose to engulf Irish idol". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  8. ^ SWIMNEWS ONLINE – Swimming News, Swim Meet Results, Swimming World Rankings, Swim Links, Calendar[dead link]
  9. ^ "Ireland & the Olympic Games". Historyireland.com. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  10. ^ Darius Whelan. "Irish Legal System and General Material on Irish Law". Ucc.ie. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  11. ^ Irish Independent, 16 June 2012, Weekend Review, Page 3
  12. ^ "Celebrities". Celebrities Go Wild. Raidió Teilifís Éireann.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by European Swimmer of the Year
1996 		Succeeded by
Olympic Games
Preceded by Flagbearer for  Ireland
Barcelona 1992 		Succeeded by
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