Mary T Meagher played a variety of sports when she was growing up but took most naturally to swimming and especially the butterfly stroke.  The 10th of 11 children she describes the sport of swimming as being very objective in training times and success.

The boycott of the 1980 Olympics was devastating for many other Olympians but Mary was only 14  at the time and not yet dreaming of being an Olympian. She was however competitive from a young age and explains the differences between collegiate and Olympic swimming, as well as her losses and failures.   Mary speaks to her new found freedoms while at CAL, about winning the Honda-Broderick Cup, the transition after her third Olympics and the appreciation she had  for having balance in her life.

“Madame Butterfly”, as she was popularly referred to, shares the qualities that made her a champion and goes on to describe five fellow Olympic swimmers and past Honda Cup winners in the CWSA sisterhood. She also  talks about the advantage of younger swimmers and disadvantage for older swimmers as they pivot in Olympic  training and competition between the summer of  2020  and preparing for Tokyo 2021.

Host: Chris Voelz, CWSA Executive Director

Podcast length: 42 mins.

A co-production with WiSP Sports

For more information, links and resources plus conversations from the world of women’s sport including articles, blogs, videos and podcasts visit wispsports.com. WiSP Sports is the World’s First and Only Podcast Network for Women’s Sport with more than 60 hosts, 1300+ episodes across 50 shows and over 7 million downloads. WiSP Sports is on all major podcast players. Follow WiSP Sports on social media @WiSPsports. Contact us at info@wispsports.com.