Meyer, Debbie

Debbie Meyer, byname of Deborah Elizabeth Meyer, (born Aug. 14, 1952, Haddonfield, N.J., U.S.), American swimmer who was the first woman to win gold medals in three individual swimming events in one Olympics.

Meyer, who suffered from asthma in childhood, grew up near Sacramento, Calif. She trained under the U.S. Olympic coach Sherman Chavoor, who required his freestyle swimmers to swim long distances to condition themselves for shorter races. At the 1967 Pan-American Games in Winnipeg, Man., Can., she set world records in the 400- and 800-metre freestyle races. During the trials for the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, she set world freestyle records in the 200-, 400-, and 800-metre races.

Though afflicted with a severe stomach infection, the 16-year-old Meyer swam at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, refusing medicine that might have disqualified her from competing. She won the 400- and 200-metre freestyle races and, fully recovered, easily won the 800-metre freestyle. From July 9, 1967, to Aug. 17, 1969, she set 15 world records, including 5 in the 800-metre freestyle and 4 in the 1,500-metre freestyle. Her final world record, the fifth she achieved in the 400-metre freestyle, came in 1970. Meyer received the James E. Sullivan award as the outstanding American amateur athlete of 1968. In 1977 she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame, and in 1986 she was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.