Biography of Mary T. Meagher

Mary T. Meagher (born 1964) is a former competitive swimmmer from the United States. Meagher, originally from Kentucky, began competing at an early age, setting her first world record in the butterfly at the age of 14 in 1979 at the Pan American Games. Meagher was expected to compete for medals at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, Russia.

However, Meagher, along the rest of the United States Olympic team, never got her chance due to President Jimmy Carter’s boycott of the Olympics. However, in 1981 Meagher gave one of the most memorable performances in competitive swimming at the US National Swimming Championships held in Brown Deer, Wisconsin in 1981. At the meet, Meagher set world records in both the 200 meter and 100 meter butterfly, the two primary distances at which the butterfly is contested in competitive swimming. The times for both records were considered astonishing, especially the record Meagher sat in the 100m, which was 57.93 seconds.

Both times would stand for nearly two decades, with Susie O’Neill of Australia breaking the record in the 200m, followed by American swimmer Jenny Thompson breaking the record in the 100m in 1999. Some have argued that Meagher’s records in the butterfly were among the most impressive records ever set in sport, let along swimming, ranking among such noteworthy records as Bob Beamon’s long jump world record in 1968.

At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California Meagher won gold medals in both the 100m and 200m butterfly races, along with another gold by swimming the butterfly leg of the women’s medley relay. Returning to compete at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, Meagher won a bronze medal in the 200m butterfly. By the time she left competitive swimming, Meagher had won 24 US national swimming titles.

Meagher married former speed skater Mike Plant. Meagher lives with her family in Peachtree City, Georgia. Meagher is also the sister of Kentucky Republican Congresswoman Anne Northup. There is a swimming complex in Louisville, Kentucky named for Meagher.