#58 | Michelle Smith and Olympic scandal
‘A good day for Michelle at the 1992 Olympics consisted of not drowning in the pool’
This week on Up To 90, the year is 1996 and Atlanta Georgia is hosting the Olympic games. Despite having faired pretty poorly in previous Olympic outings, this was the year that a relatively elderly Irish swimmer by the name of Michelle Smith stunned the world and infuriated American competitors by winning 3 gold and a bronze.
Given the fact Ireland didn’t even have a 50 meter pool at the time, combined with the minor detail that her trainer-husband had been found guilty of doping it was hardly surprising that rumours were rife as to what had really propelled this 26 year-old out of nowhere. It came as little surprise when a tampered urine sample in 1998 curtailed Michelle Smith’s competitive career, but did such a development forever taint her Olympic win, or was ‘whiskey in the jar’ gate blown completely out if proportion?
If you ever swam against Michelle Smith or took drugs or once urinated in front of a strange woman whilst wearing a fleece please get in touch @upto90podcast on Twitter and/or Instagram.
