Deborah Elizabeth Meyer (born August 14, 1952), also known by her married name Deborah Meyer Weber, is an American former competition swimmer, a 1968 three-time Olympic champion, and a former world record-holder in five freestyle events, 200,400,800,1500 meters and 880yd freestyle.

Early life

Despite being born in 1952 in Annapolis Md and living in Haddonfield New Jersey during childhood she moved with her family to warm and sunny Sacramento, California, when her father was transferred with Campbell Soup. She attended Sacramento's

Rio Americano High School Rio Americano High School, colloquially known as Rio, is a public high school in Arden-Arcade, California, just outside Sacramento, California, Sacramento, serving students in grades 9 through 12 as part of the San Juan Unified School District. ...

, and was trained during her High School years and beyond by Hall of Fame Coach Sherm Chavoor at the Arden Hills Swim Club in Carmichael, as were fellow 1968 U.S. team swimming Olympians

Mark Spitz Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950) is an American former competitive swimmer and nine-time Olympic champion. He was the Lists of Olympic medalists#Medalist with most medals by Olympiad, most successful athlete at the 1972 Summer Olympi ...

, Michael J. Burton, John Ferris,

Sue Peterson Sue Peterson is an American politician who sits in the South Dakota Senate, representing the 13th district. A member of the South Dakota Republican Party, she previously represented the same district in the South Dakota House of Representatives ...

, and John Nelson. Chavoor was one of the early coaches to challenge young elite women swimmers with "overdistance training", which focused on workouts that gave more total yardage and often featured mid-range and distance intervals to build greater endurance and speed. Chavoor would also serve as Head Coach of the U.S. Women's Olympic swim team in 1968 where he would again coach Meyer, who may have had greater confidence, and focus having Chavoor manage her at the Olympics. Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes
Debbie Meyer
. Retrieved September 8, 2015.

1968 Mexico City Olympics

In 1968, the women's freestyle races at 200-meter and 800-meter distances were added to the Summer Olympics for the first time, giving Meyer, a freestyle specialist, two new events where she could dominate the competition. Prior to 1968, the longest race for women was the 400-meter freestyle. In contrast, the male competitors had had the 1,500-meter freestyle race (the metric mile) for decades, dating back to 1896. Demonstrating unusual dominance in freestyle distance, Meyer set world records in the 200-meter, and 800-meter freestyle swimming events at the 1968 U.S. Olympics trials. As the first woman swimmer to participate in the 800-meter Olympic event, Meyer opened the doors for women to compete in events that had been closed to them and demonstrated that with proper training women could compete at the same distances as the men's teams. Meyer had obstacles to overcome in the 68 Olympics, as she had developed a stomach ailment in Mexico City and had just recovered from a painful bout of bursitis in her left shoulder. Competing as a favorite in all three events, Meyer met and exceeded expectations despite her ailments and took gold in the 200-, 400-, and 800-meter

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott Laboritories Media * '' FreeStyle'', ...

races becoming the first swimmer to win three individual gold medals in one Olympics.

Katie Ledecky Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky ( ; born March 17, 1997) is an American competitive Swimming (sport), swimmer. She is the List of individual gold medalists in swimming at the Olympics and World Aquatics Championships (women)#Title leaders, most deco ...

is the only other female swimmer to have one all three events in the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

in Rio. Despite competing at the high altitude of Mexico City, her winning times at the Olympic Games were 2:10.5 for the 200-meter, 4:31.8 for the 400-meter, and 9:24.0 for the 800-meter distances, all of them new or first-time Olympic records. With strong contributions by Meyer, Coach Sherm Chavoor's 1968 U.S. women's Olympic team won ten of a possible fifteen gold medals, eight silver of a possible twelve, and eight bronze of a possible twelve. In total, the U.S. women captured twenty-six medals out of a possible thirty-nine. While overcoming her problems with

asthma Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...

, Meyer broke 15 world records in swimming during her career. She broke 24 American records and won 19

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

(AAU) national championships. Reluctant to continue training for the 1972 Olympics, Meyer retired from competitive swimming in 1970. She would attend UCLA, but not as a swimmer.

Coaching and personal

Meyer is married to Bill Weber, and has a daughter, son, and step-daughter. She owns the Debbie Meyer Swim School in

Carmichael, California Carmichael is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County, California, United States. It is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated suburb in the Sacramento metropolitan area, Greater Sacramento metropolitan ...

. According to the business website, Meyer has taught swimming in the area around Sacramento, since the 1970s, and she opened her own school in 1993. Along with teaching both children and adults to be safe in the water Meyer is coaching the Truckee Tahoe Swim Team in

Truckee, California Truckee is an List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in Nevada County, California, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 16,180, reflecting an increase of 2,316 from the 13,864 counted in the 2 ...

. As a tribute to her athletic successes, she uses the custom California automobile license plate "3GOLD68".

Honors

Befitting her many records and achievements in both national and international competition, particularly in the late 1960's, Meyer was the recipient of many honors. In 1968, she won the James E. Sullivan Award, given to the greatest athlete of the year. In 1969, she was named

Associated Press Athlete of the Year The first Athlete of the Year award in the United States was initiated by the Associated Press (AP) in 1931. At a time when women's sports, women in sports were not given the same recognition as men, the AP offered a male and a female athlete of th ...

. As an ongoing honor, she was recognized as ''

Swimming World } ''Swimming World'' is a US-based quarterly swimming magazine that was first published in a magazine format as ''Junior Swimmer'' in January 1960. It concurrently runs online websites ''Swimming World Magazine'' and ''Swimming World News'' (kn ...

s World Swimmer of the Year in 1967, 1968 and 1969. Among her more selective honors, Meyer was inducted into the

International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the stu ...

in 1977, and the

United States Olympic Hall of Fame The United States Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame is an honor roll of the top American Olympic and Paralympic athletes headquartered at the United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum, opened in April 2020 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Hall ...

in 1986. These honors may have been bestowed partly as a result of her being the first woman to win three Olympic gold medals, and her continued dedication to the sport of swimming through her years as a coach.U.S. Olympic Team
U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame Class of 1986
Archived November 2, 2007; retrieved March 20, 2015. On July 5, 2004, Meyer was inducted into the American

National High School Hall of Fame National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

References

External links