Michelle Smith

Michelle Smith, also known by her married name Michelle Smith de Bruin, is an Irish lawyer and retired Olympic swimmer. She won three gold medals at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, in the 400 metre individual medley, the 400 metre freestyle and the 200 metre individual medley, and also took bronze in the 200 metre butterfly. She first appeared on the world scene as an eighteen-year-old at the Seoul Olympics and competed again in 1992 in Barcelona. Her rise in 1995 and her wins in Atlanta, at a relatively advanced age for swimmers, were marked by doping allegations that were never proven, and FINA later banned her for four years for tampering with a urine sample, after which she worked as a barrister.