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Deborah ("Debbie") Elizabeth Meyer (born August 14, 1952 in Annapolis, Maryland) is a former American swimmer who won the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle swimming events in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. At 16 years old, and a student at Rio Americano High School, she became the first swimmer to win three individual gold medals in one Olympics.[1]
Meyer set world records in 200m, 400m and 800m in the Olympics trials. Her winning times at the Olympics were 2:10.5 for 200m, 4:31.8 for 400m and 9:24.0 for 800m, all of them new Olympic records. A sufferer from asthma, she also broke twenty world records, which landed her in the United States Olympic Hall of Fame in 1986[2], broke 24 United States records and won 19 Amateur Athletic Union championships.
In 1968 she won the James E Sullivan Award. In 1969, she was named Associated Press Athlete of the Year. In 1972, she retired from competition.
On July 5, 2004 she was inducted into the United States National High School Hall of Fame. In memory of her Olympic achievement she uses the custom car licence plate 3GOLD68.
Meyer is married to Bill Weber. She owns the Debbie Meyer Swim School located in Carmichael, California. According to the business website, Meyer has taught swimming in the Sacramento, California area since the 1970s and opened the school in 1993. Along with teaching children and adults to be safer in the water Debbie is coaching the Truckee Tahoe Swim Team in her hometown of Truckee, California.
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