MARY T MEAGHER

“Madame Butterfly,” 5 time Olympic swimming medalist

Mary T. Meagher shocked the swimming world in 1981 when she shattered old records by a single second in the 200-meter and 100-meter butterfly competitions at the U.S. Swimming National Championships.

Even though she had established new world records that wouldn’t be broken for another 20 years, those familiar with her career as an athlete were not surprised. Two years prior to her trailblazing performance at the U.S. Swimming Nationals, she set a world record at the Pan American Games in Puerto Rico while still a Freshman in high school.

Her swimming career picked up more steam as the 1980s progressed. Even though she was crushed when she joined other American athletes by boycotting the 1980 Olympic games in Moscow, she returned to the competition more motivated than ever four years later. She would win three Olympic Gold medals in 1984, nine World Championship medals, and 24 United States National Swimming titles. She is widely considered by coaches and athletes to be the greatest female butterfly competitor in the sport’s history.

“Mary T. Meagher & Kelsi Worrell Dahlia: Life of an Olympic Champion,” Kentucky to the World’s immersive conversation between Mary T. Meagher and Kelsi Worrell, a U of L graduate who won a Gold Medal at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 took place July 10, 2018.

To commemorate Meagher’s legacy as an athlete in the city, Louisville now hosts the Mary T. Meagher Aquatic Center.