Mary Wayte

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Olympic medal record
Women's Swimming
Gold	Los Angeles 1984	200m Freestyle
Gold	Los Angeles 1984	4x100m Freestyle Relay
Silver	Seoul 1988	4x100m Medley Relay
Bronze	Seoul 1988	4x100m Freestyle Relay

Mary Alice Wayte (born March 25, 1965) is a former freestyle swimmer from the United States, who won the gold medal in the Women's 200m Freestyle at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.

Four years later, when Seoul, South Korea hosted the Summer Olympics, she was a member of the silver medal winning team in the 4x100m Medley Relay at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Her teammates in that race were Beth Barr (backstroke), Tracey McFarlane (breaststroke), and Janel Jorgensen (butterfly). Wayte also captured a bronze medal, with the 4x100 Freestyle Relay Team.

Although Wayte was raised on Mercer Island, Washington, she did most of her international swimming in Florida under coach Randy Reese at the University of Florida and the Holmes Lumber Team. As a U.S. National Team member from 1981 to 1988, Wayte's international career sparkled as a medalist on teams competing in Japan (1981, 1985), France (1982), Holland (1982), Venezuela (1983), Monaco (1985), Spain (1986) and South Korea (1988). At the 1983 Pan American Games, she won the silver medal in the 200m freestyle, just behind Hall of Famer Cynthia Woodhead. She won the gold medal as a member of the 4x100m freestyle relay, completing her medal collection.

The 1984 Olympic Games in LA were a highlight of Wayte's career, by beating her archrival Woodhead in the 200m Freestyle. She received a second gold medal by competing in the preliminary heat of the winning 4x100m Freestyle Relay. She returned to the Olympic arena in 1988 winning the silver medal on the 4x100m Medley Relay and the bronze medal as a member of the 4x100m Freestyle Relay. In Seoul, she also competed in the 200m Freestyle finishing fourth, and the 200m Individual Medley, showing her swimming versatility.

After retirement, Wayte's swimming connection took her to television where she became a color commentator for Sports Channel featuring swim meets and crowd interviews at NBA games. She served as NBC’s color commentator for women’s swimming at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, and continued to cover women’s collegiate swimming for the ESPN network at the NCAA National Championships. She has been a promoter for Speedo, Alamo, the National Spa and Pool Institute, the International Swimming Hall of Fame and other organizations. Wayte was inducted into the University of Florida’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999, followed by the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2000.

[edit] Trivia

• There is a swimming pool on Mercer Island named after Wayte.

[edit] References

• Mary Wayte on ISHOF-site
• databaseOlympics