Mary T. Meagher Plant: Swimming

 American Star of the Women’s International Sports Hall of Fame

In 1981, Mary T. Meagher spun the swimming community on its heels with her world record-setting performances in the 100-meter and 200-meter butterfly. Her record in the 100-meter butterfly would last more than 19 years and her record in the 200-meter would last more than 20 years. In 1990, Sports Illustrated listed Meagher’s 200-meter record as the fifth greatest “single-event” record ever in any sport. Affectionately and appropriately referred to as “Madame Butterfly,” her accomplishments in 1981 earned her the women’s World Swimmer of the Year Award. Meagher, known by her married name of Mary Plant after marrying speed skater Mike Plant, set her first world record as a 14-year-old at the 1979 Pan Am Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

“When I set my first world record I didn’t know I had done it,” Meagher Plant said. “It was great and it was wonderful, but honestly I hadn’t set out that day to do that. It was more of a byproduct of wanting to win and having good coaches and being blessed with talent.”¹

She was expected to medal in the 1980 Olympics, but did not compete because of the U.S. boycott of the Olympics in the Soviet Union. Even as Meagher Plant was reaching the zenith of her swimming career, she considered retiring from swimming after 1980 because she was no longer having fun. But she made some changes to her training schedule to make it more balanced, and by 1981 she was making swimming history. Meagher Plant would make the most of her opportunity at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics by winning three gold medals in the 100-meter and 200-meter butterfly and the women’s medley relay. “Winning the gold medals in ’84 was really a nice accomplishment,” she said. “ ’84 was just full exhilaration. It was the highlight of my career and I’m glad some things came together— emotionally and physically.” In 1985, she was again named the women’s World Swimmer of the Year.

“In her prime, Mary had no weaknesses,” said Dennis Pursley, one of Meagher Plant’s coaches. “Motivation, technique, physical attributes—I don’t know that I’ve ever seen an athlete who didn’t have a weakness on that list—except Mary.”² Meagher Plant swam at the University of California, Berkeley (Cal), where she received her bachelor’s degree in social sciences. At Cal, she won five individual national championships, and in her final collegiate 100-meter butterfly swim in 1987, she set a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and U.S. Open record. Following her triumph at the NCAA Championships, Meagher Plant moved from California to her hometown in Louisville, Kentucky, where she continued training for the Olympics. But Meagher Plant was not training up to her potential.

She contacted Bill Peak, her childhood coach who had worked with her for years in Louisville. Peak, then living in Norfolk, Virginia, extended an invitation to Meagher Plant to train with him fulltime. Peak wanted to make sure Meagher Plant still had her heart in training and her love for swimming prevailed. “Two days after I got there,” she said of arriving at Norfolk, “I knew I was doing the right thing. I’m happier than I’ve been in a long time. My attitude has improved 1,000 percent and my training has improved 1,000 percent.”³

At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, still pushing herself at the highest level of competition, Meagher Plant earned a bronze medal in the 200-meter butterfly. After the Seoul Olympics, Meagher Plant retired from competitive swimming and focused on her marriage. She briefly considered swimming professionally on a European tour to earn money, but internally, she knew she was tired of being Mary T. Meagher the swimmer and was ready to enter a new phase in her life.

“It was a tough time,” she said. “There was just an inkling of a thought in me that I should continue swimming just to travel. There was money I could make if I swam another year and at that point I assumed I could win if I put my mind to it. My friends were all moving to these cool jobs and I still had to call my dad to support me with money. I just never seemed to be able to get close to where I was. [The record] was neat even though when I was swimming it was a frustration. I swam for seven more years and never swam faster.”

By the end of her career, in addition to her Olympic and collegiate success, Meagher Plant had set seven world records and won 24 U.S. national titles. “It was a very conscious decision to leave it all behind,” Meagher Plant said. “My husband and I have seen so many athletes that never make that transition into real life. And to have what I have now, I consider myself very lucky.”⁴

In 1993, Meagher Plant was elected to the International Swimming Hall of Fame. At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Meagher Plant was one of eight athletes to carry the Olympic flag into Olympic Stadium. In 2000, Sports Illustrated for Women included Meagher Plant as the 17th greatest women’s athlete of all-time in a list of 100. Then, the records that had endured for so long started to fall. In 1999, American swimmer Jenny Thompson broke Meagher Plant’s 100-meter record. Thompson said she gained insight on how to break the world record by watching taped footage of Meagher Plant’s stroke. “It helped me focus on what I needed to do, and it’s made a difference,”⁵ Thompson said. Less than one year after the 100-meter record went down, Australian swimmer Susan O’Neill broke Meagher Plant’s 200-meter butterfly record. “It’s one of the greatest moments of my life. I’ve dreamed about it for a long time,”⁶ said O’Neill, who bested Meagher Plant’s record by .15 seconds. Meagher Plant was quick to praise O’Neill for her accomplishment. “I feel great, there couldn’t have been a nicer or harder worker than Susie and she really deserves it,”⁷ Meagher Plant said. “As I get further away, I appreciate the record more. At this point in my life I’m flattered that for whatever reason, God chose me to swim at that level.”

Currently, Meagher Plant lives in a suburb outside of Atlanta with her husband and two children, Maddie and Drew. The adjustment from being an Olympic champion and world-record holder to life outside of athletics was a learning process for Meagher Plant. At one of her jobs, she would have contact with her boss once a week as opposed to having a coach standing over her shoulder every day telling her what she was doing right and wrong. After work, Meagher Plant would drive home knowing she had competently fulfilled her tasks, but wonder whether she was doing it the right way.

“It’s just hard to come off a glamorous lifestyle, one where I got a lot of pats on my back,” Meagher Plant said. “I was made to believe I was a good person because I swam fast. Luckily, I had parents that taught me you’re a good person because you’re a good person, not because you swim fast. There were times when I wanted to go back and do things as Mary T. Meagher and do clinics and give speeches. I credit my husband with helping. He told me, ‘You had a great career, but now it’s time to move on. If you keep one foot in your old life, you’ll never walk into your new life.’”

Now, Meagher Plant spends her energy raising Maddie and Drew, holding down the fort at home when her husband is traveling, and cultivating her friendships. She also has been a long-time volunteer for the Girl Scouts as a service unit director; her responsibilities include finding troops for girls and coordinating their efforts. At every U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials, the national swim team has a reunion, and at the trials for the 2008 Beijing Olympics Meagher Plant attended the gathering with her children.

“I thought I’ll take them with me this time and introduce them to friends,” she said. “I was introduced on the deck during the meet at one point and got a standing ovation and got to sign some autographs. I don’t really know what was going through their minds,” she said of Maddie and Drew. “How did they interpret that? I talked a little bit to my daughter about the good and bad about being famous. I’m happier now as a mom than I ever was when I was swimming.”

Notes

1. Unless noted otherwise, the quotes in this article are by Mary T. Meagher, in an interview with the author, July 7, 2008.

2. Sports Illustrated for Women. Mary T. Meagher. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/siforwomen/top_100/17/.

3. Frank Litsky, “Meagher Making New Commitment,” New York Times, March 24, 1988.

4. James Pilcher, “Envy as Swimming Record Is Broken,” AP, August 23, 1999.

5. Ibid.

6. Julian Linden, “Oldest World Record Broken by O’Neill,” The Independent—London, May 18, 2000. 

7. Ibid.

 

This excerpt was written by Horacio Ruiz.