Irish barrister and former Olympic swimmer Michelle Smith de Bruin began to swim from her father and was first observed at the age of nine in the Tallaght swimming pool.
When she was 18 years old, she made her international debut at the Seoul Olympics and almost missed the B-final in the 200 m backstroke (top 16).
At age 14, she won the junior and senior national championships. From then until her retirement in 1998, she dominated Irish women’s swimming.
Following her swimming career, Smith worked as a builder’s merchant under the alias Michelle de Bruin. What is known about her present occupation is included below.
Michelle Smith: Where Is She Now?
With a specialization in civil law, Michelle Smith, 52, is currently employed as a barrister in Kells, Ireland. She was the first Irish woman to win an Olympic gold medal for Ireland in Atlanta in 1996, but drug charges overshadowed her glittering victory.
Regardless of gender, Smith, who gave up swimming, is still Ireland’s most successful Olympian.
However, she also has Irish records in the 200 and 400 meter freestyle, 200 meter butterfly, 400 meter individual medley (long course), and 400 meter individual medley record (short period).
Furthermore, until Katie Taylor’s triumph in boxing in 2012, Ireland had not taken home a gold medal since Smith’s three in 1996.
Irish Olympian Swimmer’s Stunning Net Worth From Legal Career
The Irish swimmer amassed a large net worth thanks to her accomplishments in sports and her work as a lawyer. Although the exact amount of her money is unknown, several internet publications estimate it to be between $1 and $5 million.
In contrast, she returned to school after formally announcing her retirement from swimming in 1999, and she eventually graduated with a law degree from University College Dublin.
She earned her Barrister degree from King’s Inns Law School in Dublin in July 2005.
Additionally, Smith is an expert in private international law, the recognition and execution of foreign judgements, EU law, and the legal framework for conflicts following Brexit.
Smith had an appearance on the RTÉ reality series Celebrities Go Wild in 2007, where eight celebrities were abandoned in the Connemara countryside to fend for themselves.
Her Spouse A retired Dutch discus thrower, Erik de Bruin
Her husband, 59-year-old former Dutch shot putter and discus thrower Erik de Bruin
He held the Dutch national shot put record from 1986 to 2005; as of right now, his 68.12 m discus throw record set on April 1, 1991, still remains.
He had great success in the discus throw, winning silver at the 1990 European Championships, 1991 World Championships, and 1989 Summer Universiade.
After meeting Dutch discus thrower de Bruin in Barcelona, Smith began training with her in 1993.
According to reports, the couple married in 1996. The couple has been married for 25 years and now resides in Kells, County Kilkenny, with their two kids.
Ban on Both Husband and Wife Due to Illegal Drug Use
Smith de Bruin’s swimming career came to an end in 1998 after she was given a 4-year suspension by FINA, the sport’s governing body. She was found in charge of tampering with a urine sample, and the results showed evidence of alcohol.
The Summer Olympics in Atlanta were the most successful Olympics for Ireland in terms of gold medals ever on this day, July 25, 1996, when swimmer Michelle Smith earned her third gold medal.
She received a four-year suspension after the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected her appeal of the punishment at the age of 28, according to her Wikipedia.
The first Irish woman to win a gold medal never failed a drug test. However, the 1998 case of tampering has led to more concerns than it has answered regarding the veracity of her accomplishments.
Similar to this, her coach and husband, Erik De Bruin, had already been given a four-year ban for using drugs while competing as a discus thrower.
She kept her medals, right?
Smith’s Olympic medals have not been taken away because she has never tested positive for any banned substances.
She basically left the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta with three gold medals from the 400 m individual medley, 400 m freestyle, and 200 m individual medley. She did succeed in taking home the bronze in the 200-meter butterfly race.
Bio of Michelle Smith
Michelle Smith, also known by her married name Michelle Smith de Bruin, is an Irish swimmer and attorney born on December 16, 1969 in Rathcoole, Ireland. She became the most successful Olympian in Ireland and the first woman to win a gold medal for her nation by winning four medals at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games.
At the age of 13, Smith started swimming competitively. Although she became one of Ireland’s top junior swimmers, Smith knew that she would never be able to compete at the international level without more modern training facilities and methods. She relocated to the US so she could study and practice swimming at the University of Houston, where she received a degree in communications. She qualified for the Irish Olympic teams in 1988 and 1992 as her timings continued to improve. She was, however, outclassed in the opening stages of each of those Games.
The first Olympic bobsleigh gold medal for Team USA in 62 years was won by Steven Holcomb, a former member of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program, with Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler, and Curtis Tomasevicz.
Olympic competition
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In order to be ready for the 1996 Olympics, Smith relocated to the Netherlands in 1994 with her coach and future husband, Erik de Bruin. The next year, she became a top athlete after taking first place in the 200-meter butterfly and 200-meter individual medley events at the European Championships. In 1996, she continued to advance, shaving 19 seconds off of her previous 400-meter freestyle record. Smith attributed her abrupt turnaround to more advanced training methods and a singular emphasis on swimming in answer to inquiries about it. She also emphasized the fact that she was likely the Irish athlete with the highest number of drug tests and that she had never tested positive for an illegal substance.
Ireland had only won five Olympic gold medals prior to the Atlanta Games, and no medals—gold, silver, or bronze—had been won by Irish women. Smith, though, rewrote Irish record books in a single week. The 26-year-old swimmer won three gold medals—in the 200-meter individual medley, 400-meter individual medley, and 400-meter freestyle—and the 200-meter butterfly, as well as the bronze. Her win, however, was slightly marred by unverified rumours that she had used performance-enhancing medications. Some commentators questioned her long-term improvements and cited her marriage to Dutch discus thrower de Bruin, who had been banned from international competition for using performance-enhancing drugs. But Smith was clean both before and after the Olympics.
Before receiving the first-ever Social Security check, Ida May Fuller paid only $24.50 in payroll taxes during a three-year period. She would receive roughly $23,000 in benefits and live to be 100.
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At the 1997 European Championships, Smith continued to excel by winning gold medals in the 200-meter butterfly and 200-meter individual medley. However, she was given a four-year suspension in 1998 for tampering with a urine sample provided for a drug test. Smith insisted on her innocence despite the suspension, but her appeal was denied. She gave up competitive swimming in 1999. Later, she pursued legal studies at the University of Dublin, and in 2005, she was admitted to the bar. Transnational Litigation: Jurisdiction and Procedure was written by Smith (2008).
Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996
The Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games were a sporting extravaganza that took place there from July 19–August 4, 1996. The Olympic Games in Atlanta marked their 23rd appearance.
Selected over Athens to host the Centennial Summer Games, Atlanta presented one of the most spectacular Games in Olympic history. The 1996 Olympics cost close to $1.7 billion due to a five-hour opening ceremony and the construction of a “country fair” ambiance with booths, amusement park rides, and music. The Games did not receive any financial assistance from the government for the first time. Instead, money was raised through corporate sponsorships—including $300 million from Coca-Cola—and television rights. Many complained that the outcome was excessive commercialization, and few people thought that there would ever be another privately supported Games. Although increased security measures were adopted, the Games still had issues with transportation and lodging, and a pipe-bomb explosion at Centennial Olympic Park resulted in one fatality. The perpetrator, an American named Eric Rudolph, also went on to bomb an abortion clinic in 1998 and a homosexual nightclub in 1997. In 2005, he received several sentences of life in jail.
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All national Olympic committees (NOCs) invited to compete sent athletes for the first time, including those from all of the former Soviet republics, Burundi, North Korea, the Palestinian Authority, and Hong Kong, which won its first (and last) gold medal before joining China (1997). More than 10,000 competitors were sent by a record 197 NOCs. Women’s football (soccer), beach volleyball, lightweight rowing, women’s softball, and mountain biking (cross-country cycling) all made their debuts, bringing the total number of events to 271 in total.
Carl Lewis (U.S.), who won his tenth track and field gold medal, and Fu Mingxia (China), who won the women’s platform and springboard diving events, were notable performers at the Atlanta Games. Michael Johnson (U.S.) and Marie-José Pérec (France) respectively won the 200- and 400-meter sprints in the men’s and women’s championships; Svetlana Masterkova (Russia) won the 800- and 1,500-meter races.
Michelle Smith led the women’s swimming field (Ireland). However, her three gold medals occurred amid allegations of drug use. Three swimmers in the men’s competition, Aleksandr Popov (Russia), Danyon Loader (New Zealand), and Denis Pankratov, each won two individual gold medals (Russia). The unexpectedly strong U.S. team won the women’s gymnastics team competition, but Lilia Podkopayeva (Ukraine), who won two gold medals, one silver, and the all-around crown, dominated the individual competitions. The male gymnastics competition’s standout performer was Russian Aleksey Nemov. The most medals won at the 1996 Olympics were his six, two of which were gold.
In recreational and competitive swimming, the body is propelled through the water using a combination of arm and leg actions as well as its inherent buoyancy. Swimming is a well-liked all-around body builder that is especially beneficial in treatment and as exercise for people with physical disabilities. Additionally, it is taught to prevent death. See also diving, lifesaving, surfing, synchronized swimming, underwater diving, and water polo for further swimming-related activities.
Michelle Smith History
Swimming was a popular sport in Egypt as early as 2500 BCE, and it spread to the Assyrian, Greek, and Roman civilizations after that. Swimming was a component of martial arts instruction in ancient Greece and Rome, and it was taught to male students in primary school alongside the alphabet. With some evidence of swimming competitions in Japan as early as the first century BCE, swimming has a long history in the Orient. By the 17th century, swimming instruction in schools was mandated by imperial decree. Before Japan was made accessible to the West in the 19th century, organized swimming competitions were staged there. Children in the preliterate marine cultures of the Pacific apparently learned to swim around the time they could walk, if not before. There are references to sporadic races among the ancient Greeks, and a well-known boxer trained by swimming. The Romans developed swimming pools, apart from their baths. The earliest heated swimming pool is credited to the Roman Gaius Maecenas in the first century BCE.
According to some experts, the lack of swimming in Europe throughout the Middle Ages was due to a concern that it would transmit disease and lead to epidemics. There is some proof that swimming was practiced in British seaside resorts in the latter part of the 17th century, probably in connection with water therapy. However, swimming didn’t really gain popularity as a sport or pastime until the 19th century. London had six indoor swimming pools with diving boards when it established the first swimming association there in 1837. Australia hosted the inaugural 400-meter (440-yard) swimming competition in 1846, and it was held there every year after that. The Metropolitan Swimming Clubs of London, which were established in 1869, eventually evolved into the Amateur Swimming Association, which now oversees amateur swimming in the United Kingdom. From 1882 to 1889, national swimming federations were established in a number of European nations. The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), which was established in 1888, was the organization that first nationalized swimming as a sport in the United States. The FINA was established in 1909 as the Federation Internationale de Natation Amateur.
With its inclusion in the modern Olympic Games since their debut in 1896, competitive swimming gained notoriety on a global scale. Women’s events were added to the Olympic program in 1912 after initially only being available to males. The Games featured some strange events before FINA was established. For instance, a 200-meter obstacle race during the 1900 Games’ swimming competitions on the Seine River in France required climbing over a pole and a row of boats before swimming under them. After FINA assumed control, such peculiarities vanished. Race lengths were increasingly measured in meters per FINA regulations for Olympic and other international competition, and world records for yard-measured events were eliminated in 1969. Only freestyle (crawl), backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly were still permitted. Individual medley races included all four strokes. Many countries, including Hungary, Denmark, Australia, Germany, France, Great Britain, Canada, Japan, and the United States, have occasionally dominated Olympic and international competition.
Take our quiz to learn fascinating details about the histories of the water activities you enjoy, such as swimming, surfing, kayaking, and more. A splash will be made!
training and instruction
Both sports and lifesaving teaching programs began in Great Britain in the 19th century. The rest of Europe copied those programs. Under the direction of the American Red Cross, swimming lessons for lifesaving purposes were first offered in the United States in 1916. Swimming was strongly encouraged by the instructional work carried out by the various branches of the armed forces throughout both World Wars I and II. It became customary for community organizations and institutions to offer classes that eventually included very young newborns.
By the late 1950s, interval training and repetition training had taken the place of the traditional method of simply swimming as much as possible during every workout. A sequence of swims over the same distance interspersed with planned rest times make up interval training. The rest period in slow interval training, which is largely intended to build endurance, is never longer than it takes to swim the designated distance. Fast interval training, which is primarily utilized to increase speed, allows for rest intervals that are long enough to almost completely restore the heart and respiratory rates.
Before receiving the first-ever Social Security check, Ida May Fuller paid only $24.50 in payroll taxes during a three-year period. She would receive roughly $23,000 in benefits and live to be 100.
The availability of 50-metre (164-foot) pools has expanded because to the emphasis on international competition. Wave-killing gutters for pools, racing lane markers that help lessen turbulence, cameras for underwater observation of strokes, huge clocks visible to swimmers, and electrically driven touch and timing devices were further adjuncts that enhanced both training and performance. All world records have been stated in hundredths of seconds since 1972. Swimmers at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing smashed 25 world records while sporting high-tech bodysuits that boosted buoyancy and reduced water resistance. This was the pinnacle of swimsuit technology. Following another round of world record-breaking times at the 2009 world championships, FINA outlawed these bodysuits out of concern that they would mask an athlete’s true potential.
Strokes
The sidestroke and breaststroke were the first strokes to be employed. Both arms were submerged when the sidestroke was first performed. Towards the end of the 19th century, this custom was changed to involve raising each arm in turn, starting with one and then the other. The crawl, which is employed in lifesaving and recreational swimming, replaced the sidestroke in competitive swimming. The arms alternately propel while the body remains on its side. The sidestroke leg motion is known as the scissors kick, and it involves slowly opening the legs with the bottom leg moving backward and the upper leg moving forward, both knees slightly bent, and toes pointing. The kick’s forward thrust is produced by the legs’ well coordinated scissor movement as they come together after opening.
The breaststroke is frequently employed in competitive swimming as well as lifesaving and recreational swimming. It is said to be the oldest of all swimming strokes. In choppy water, the stroke is particularly effective. The phrase “frog kick” originated at the end of the 17th century when the stroke was described as a wide pull of the arms and symmetrical leg action that mimicked the motion of a swimming frog. The stroke is executed while submerged face down in the water, with the arms never leaving it. The frog kick was followed by a brief glide in the early breaststroke. Later, the breaststroke glide was replaced by competition. In the earlier type of breaststroke, breath was taken in near the conclusion of the arm pull rather than at the start of the arm stroke.
Only used in competition, the butterfly stroke differs from the breaststroke in how the arms are employed. The arms of the butterfly are raised in front of the water. American officials were made aware of the stroke in 1933 while Henry Myers, who used it, was competing in a race. He was adamant that his stroke followed the guidelines for breaststroke at the time. Following some debate, the butterfly was acknowledged as a unique competitive stroke in 1953. The original frog kick was replaced with a fishtail (dolphin) kick that simply required up-and-down leg movement. Later, swimmers pulled with one arm and two dolphin kicks. In sprint events, breathing is accomplished by lifting the head every second or third stroke.
The backstroke started to take shape in the early 20th century. The swimmer uses this stroke while lying flat and keeping their body as streamlined as possible. With the palms facing outward and the little finger entering the water first, the arms alternately stretch above the head and enter the water in line with the shoulders. Backing the arm up to the thigh. A minor body roll occurs. The kick began as the frog kick but later included up-and-down leg movements similar to the crawl. The backstroke is a competitive stroke, but it’s also utilized in recreational swimming as a change of pace from other strokes. It’s typically performed with little arm movement and just enough kick to keep moving forward.
The freestyle swimming stroke utilized in competition, the crawl, has grown to be the fastest one available. It is also pretty universally accepted as the stroke of choice for traveling any significant distance. The end of the 19th century saw the usage of the stroke in the Pacific, and Australian swimmer Henry Wickham adopted it in 1893. In 1902 and 1903, the Australian brothers Syd and Charles Cavill made the stroke widely known in Europe. The arm motion of the crawl was similar to the old sidestroke, but the leg motion involved fluttering up and down twice for each arm stroke. An additional pair of leg movements were then added by early American imitators, and eventually up to six kicks were employed. The types of kicks also varied. In the crawl, the body is flat on the water’s surface and the legs are kept just under the surface. Continuous propulsion is achieved by timing the movement of the arms so that one starts pulling just as the other one finishes. While recovering the arm from that side, one can breathe by rotating the head to either side. More races than any other stroke since 1896 have employed the crawl.
Michelle Smit Races
Freestyle events are run over distances of 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1,500 meters; backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events are run over distances of 100 and 200 meters; individual medley events are run over distances of 200 and 400 meters; freestyle relays are run over distances of 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 meters; and medley relays are run over distances of 4 x 100 meters.
With the exception of the backstroke, all starts are made while standing or leaning forward with the goal of obtaining the longest glide prior to the start of the stroke. Success depends on the touch before turning, which varies for different stroke races because all races are in multiples of the pool length. In a relay race, a swimmer completes his leg by hitting the side of the pool where the next swimmer from his team jumps in to start his leg.