Mary Wayte

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Mary Wayte
Personal information
Full name Mary Alice Wayte
Nationality  United States
Born Mercer Island, Washington
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight 128 lb (58 kg)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Stroke(s) Freestyle, Individual medley
Club Chinook Aquatic Club
College team University of Florida

Mary Alice Wayte Bradburne, née Mary Alice Wayte, is an American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and television sports commentator.

Early years

Wayte was born and raised on Mercer Island, Washington, where she swam for the Chinook Aquatic Club.[1] As a 16-year-old high school sophomore, Wayte won three gold medals in the 200-meter freestyle, the 200-meter backstroke and the 800-meter freestyle relay at the 1981 National Sport Festival.[2]

College swimming career

Wayte received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where she swam for coach Randy Reese's Florida Gators swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition from 1983 to 1987.[3] As a Gator swimmer, she won two individual NCAA national titles in the 100-yard freestyle and the 400-yard individual medley in 1985.[3] And with Gator teammates Laureeen Welting, Kathy Treible, Tracy Caulkins, Dara Torres and Paige Zemina, she was a member of the Gators' NCAA championship relay teams in the 400-yard and 800-yard freestyle relays for three consecutive years (1984, 1985, 1986), anchoring five of the six relays.[3] In total, she won eight NCAA championships in those three years.[3] She also won eleven individual Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships and was a member of ten SEC championship relay teams.[3] Wayte was the SEC Swimmer of the Year in 1985, and received a total of twenty-six All-American honors in her four years as a collegiate swimmer.[3]

Wayte graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in telecommunications in 1989.

International swimming career

From 1981 to 1988, Wayte was a member of the U.S. national swim team in international competition, winning medals in Japan (1981, 1985), France (1982), the Netherlands (1982), Venezuela (1983), Monaco (1985), Spain (1986) and South Korea (1988).[4] At the 1983 Pan American Games in Caracas, Venezuela, she won won a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. 4x100-meter freestyle relay team, and the silver medal in the 200-meter freestyle event.[4]

At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, Wayte won her first Olympic gold medal in the women's 200-meter freestyle event by defeating future Hall of Fame swimmer Cynthia Woodhead.[5] She earned her second Olympic gold medal by swimming in the preliminary heat for the winning U.S. women's 4x100-meter freestyle relay team.[6]

Four years later, when Seoul, South Korea hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics, she swam the freestyle leg for the silver medal-winning U.S. team in the women's 4x100-meter medley relay with teammates Beth Barr (backstroke), Tracey McFarlane (breaststroke), and Janel Jorgensen (butterfly).[1] Wayte also captured a bronze medal with the third-place U.S. women's 4x100-meter freestyle relay team that included Mitzi Kremer, Dara Torres and Laura Walker.[6] Individually, she finished fourth in the women's 200-meter freestyle, and competed in the women's 200-meter individual medley, too.[1]

Life after swimming

After retiring from competition swimming, Wayte became a celebrity promoter and endorsed products and services on behalf of Alamo Rent a Car, the International Swimming Hall of Fame, the National Spa and Pool Institute and Speedo.[7] She also worked as a television broadcaster for the Sports Channel network, covering NCAA and international swimming competitions and interviewing fans at NBA games.[4] For the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, Wayte worked as NBC's women's swimming color commentator, and later covered the NCAA women's swimming championships for ESPN.[7]

Wayte was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 1998,[8][9] the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2000,[4] and the Pacific Northwest Swimming Hall of Fame in 2004.[10] The community swimming pool where she formerly trained in Mercer Island, Washington was renamed "Mary Wayte Pool."[11]

Wayte married business executive Jim Bradburne in 1995, and they have two daughters.[12] She currently lives in Seattle, Washington, and works in corporate communications for Cisco.[13] In 2009, Wayte participated in Swim Across America, a charitable organization that enlists former Olympic swimmers to raise funds for cancer research.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports, Athletes, Mary Wayte. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
  2. ↑ Associated Press, "3 Gold Medals To Mary Wayte," The New York Times (July 25, 1981). Retrieved June 5, 2011.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Florida Swimming & Diving 2011–12 Media Supplement, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 61, 62, 65, 67–68, 69, 75–76, 79 (2011). Retrieved April 10, 2012.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 International Swimming Hall of Fame, Honorees, Mary Wayte (USA). Retrieved June 5, 2011.
  5. ↑ Frank Litsky, "U.S. Swimmers Win Two More Golds," The New York Times (July 31, 1984). Retrieved June 5, 2011.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 databaseOlympics.com, Athletes, Mary Wayte. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Swim Across America, Olympians, Mary Wayte Bradburne. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
  8. ↑ F Club, Hall of Fame, 1998 Hall of Fame Inductees. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
  9. ↑ Pat Dooley, "Honored for the Effort," The Gainesville Sun, p. 1C (April 3, 1998). Retrieved July 23, 2011.
  10. ↑ Pacific Northwest Swimming Hall of Fame, Class of 2004. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
  11. ↑ Elizabeth Celms, "Mary Wayte Pool key to school plans," Mercer Island Reporter (May 26, 2010). Retrieved June 5, 2011.
  12. ↑ Matt Peterson, "Flashback: Mary Wayte Bradburne, Mercer Island, Class of 1983," The Seattle Times (October 14, 2003). Retrieved June 5, 2011.
  13. ↑ Mary Wayte, " Northern Virginia Daily (May 1, 2010). Retrieved June 5, 2011.

External links

  • Mary Wayte – Olympic athlete profile at Sports-Reference.com
  • Mary Wayte (USA) – Honor Swimmer profile at International Swimming Hall of Fame
Olympic Champions in Women's 200 m Freestyle
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