Michelle Smith de Bruin (born 16 December 1969)
is an Irish lawyer and retired Olympic swimmer. She won three gold medals at the
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
, for the 400 m individual
medley, 400 m
freestyle and 200 m individual medley, and also won the
bronze medal
A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...
for the 200 m
butterfly
Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...
event.
Smith's rise to dominance in the 1995 European Championships, followed by her wins in Atlanta, all at a relatively advanced age for swimmers, were marked by allegations of
doping that were never proven. Smith was later banned for four years by FINA, the international swimming federation, for manipulation of an anti-doping sample by deliberate contamination with alcohol,
a decision upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport when Smith appealed.
Already superannuated in swimming terms, Smith never returned to competitive swimming and later worked as a
barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...
, practising under her married name of Michelle Smith de Bruin.
Despite the ban for manipulating samples, authorities were unable to prove that Smith's swimming achievements were the result of using performance enhancers and, therefore, not annulled, so she remains Ireland's most successful Olympian.
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 nine. 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 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. She later swam collegiately at the
University of Houston
The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...
.
Smith first appeared on the world scene as an 18-year-old at the
Seoul Olympics and narrowly missed the B-final in the 200 m backstroke (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
Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a pop ...
, despite suffering an injury in the months leading up to the Games. She finished fifth in the 200 m butterfly at the
1994 World Championships. In that same year, she suffered from
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
Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...
, 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. There was controversy at the Games due to Smith qualifying for the 400m freestyle event at the expense of the then-world record holder
Janet Evans
Janet Beth Evans (born August 28, 1971) is an American former competition swimmer who swam from 1989 to 1992 for Stanford University and specialized in distance freestyle events. Evans was a world champion and world record-holder, and won a to ...
, who had 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.
At a later conference, Evans highlighted that accusations of Smith
doping had been heard by her poolside.
Smith later received an apology from Evans.
Sample tampering ban
In April 1998, an exclusive by Craig Lord in ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' newspaper broke the news that Smith faced an anti-doping challenge.
Two years after the
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
, FINA banned Smith for four years for tampering with her urine sample using alcohol.
She appealed the decision to the
Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...
(CAS). Her case was heard by a panel of three sport lawyers, including
Michael Beloff
Michael Jacob Beloff, King's Counsel, KC (born 18 April 1942) is an English barrister and arbitrator. A member of Blackstone Chambers, he practises in a number of areas including human rights, administrative law and sports law.
Career
Beloff is ...
QC. Unusually for a CAS hearing, Smith's case was heard in public at her own lawyer's request.
FINA submitted evidence from Jordi Segura, head of the IOC-accredited laboratory in Barcelona, that Smith took
androstenedione
Androstenedione, or 4-androstenedione (abbreviated as A4 or Δ4-dione), also known as androst-4-ene-3,17-dione, is an endogenous weak androgen steroid hormone and intermediate in the biosynthesis of estrone and of testosterone from dehydroe ...
, a metabolic precursor of testosterone, in the previous 10-to-12 hours before being tested. Smith denied this and androstenedione was not a banned substance. The International Olympic Committee banned androstenedione and placed it under the category of androgenic-anabolic steroids in 1997. 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 she had never tested positive for any banned substances.
Her coach and husband,
Erik De Bruin, previously served a four-year ban for using illegal drugs during his career as a discus thrower.
[ Smith has always denied using illegal performance-enhancing drugs.
]
Legal career
During Smith's experience at CAS, she developed an interest in the law. After announcing her retirement from swimming in 1999, she returned to university, graduating from University College Dublin
University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...
with a degree in law. In July 2005 she was conferred with the degree of barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...
-at-law of King's Inns
The Honorable Society of King's Inns () is the "Inn of Court" for the Bar of Ireland. Established in 1541, King's Inns is Ireland's oldest school of law and one of Ireland's significant historical environments.
The Benchers of King's Inns aw ...
, Dublin. While a student at the King's Inns she won the internal Brian Walsh Moot Court
Moot court is a co-curricular activity at many law schools. Participants take part in simulated court or arbitration proceedings, usually involving drafting memorials or memoranda and participating in oral argument. In many countries, the phrase ...
competition. Her book, ''Transnational Litigation: Jurisdiction and Procedure'' was published in 2008 by Thomson Round Hall.
Smith is a specialist in private international law
Conflict of laws (also called private international law) is the set of rules or laws a jurisdiction applies to a case, transaction, or other occurrence that has connections to more than one jurisdiction."Conflict of Laws", ''Black's Law Dictio ...
, the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, EU law, and the law applicable to disputes following Brexit.[
]
Other activities
In 2007, Smith 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
Connemara ( ; ) is a region on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of western County Galway, in the west of Ireland. The area has a strong association with traditional Irish culture and contains much of the Connacht Irish-speaking Gaeltacht, ...
.
In 1996, she released her autobiography, ''Gold'', co-written with Cathal Dervan.
Personal life
In 1993 Smith began training with Dutch discus thrower Erik de Bruin, whom she had met in Barcelona. They married in 1996.[TARNISHED GOLDEN GIRL]
Chicago Tribune Smith lives in Kells, County Kilkenny
Kells () is a village in County Kilkenny in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is about 15 km south of Kilkenny. It is situated on high ground to the south of the Kings River (Ireland), Kings River. The village is in a townland and Civil pari ...
with de Bruin and their two children.
Legacy
While Smith technically remains Ireland's most successful Olympian, male or female and also still technically holds Irish records for the 200m and 400m freestyle, 200m butterfly, 400m individual medley (long course) and the 400m individual medley (short course) the legitimacy of her achievements is strongly debated in Irish sporting circles.[Swim Ireland records updated December 2020 and June 2021 https://www.swimireland.ie/index.php/competitions-events/records-rankings-results]
See also
* List of multiple Olympic gold medalists at a single Games
* List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences
References
External links
Law Library profile
Transnational Litigation: Jurisdiction and Procedure (Smith deBruin's book)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Michelle
1969 births
Living people
Irish female butterfly swimmers
Irish female freestyle swimmers
Irish female medley swimmers
Doping cases in swimming
Irish sportspeople in doping cases
Olympic bronze medalists for Ireland
Olympic gold medalists for Ireland
Olympic bronze medalists in swimming
Olympic swimmers for Ireland
Participants in Irish reality television series
Sportspeople from County Dublin
Swimmers at the 1988 Summer Olympics
Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics
Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics
European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming
Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Irish expatriate sportspeople in the United States
Olympic gold medalists in swimming
RTÉ Sports Person of the Year winners
Irish barristers
Alumni of King's Inns
Houston Cougars women's swimmers
Expatriate swimmers in the United States
People from Rathcoole, County Dublin
Sportspeople from South Dublin (county)
Lawyers from County Dublin
Irish female backstroke swimmers
20th-century Irish sportswomen