Linda Jezek

Linda Louise Jezek (born March 10, 1960) an American former competition swimmer, known by her married name Linda Wittwer after September 1990, competed for Stanford University, and was a 1976 Montreal Olympic silver medalist in the 4x100 Medley relay. She is a former American and world record-holder in backstroke events. and graduated Homestead High School in Cupertino. Her father Earl had formerly swum backstroke for the strong program at Ohio State. She grew up primarily in Los Altos, and around the age of 12 swam for the Mountain View Dolphins, but by 1975 did her training with the highly competitive Santa Clara Swim Club where she received much of her training from their new Head Coach Mitch Ivey, a former Olympic backstroke silver and bronze medalist. Former Olympic medalist Claudia Kolb was an Assistant Coach at Santa Clara by 1975, and may also have worked with Jezek.

Jezek won the Amateur Athletic Union U.S. Senior National 100-meter backstroke event in both 1975 and 1976.

1976 Montreal Olympics Jezek placed first in the 100-meter backstroke at the U.S. Olympic trials in 1976, and placed third in the 200-meter backstroke at the trials, but did not swim the event at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

In the Women's 100-meter 1976 Olympic backstroke event, Jezek slipped during the start of her semi-final heat on July 20, 1976, recovered her form late, and finished 11th overall with a 1:06.01, unable to record a time that would qualify her for the finals. As expected in the 100-meter backstroke finals, German swimmer Ulrike Richter won the race, with a 1:01.83, and German teammate Birgit Treiber placed second for the silver with a 1:03.41. She maintained a 3.0 grade point average as a Stanford undergraduate despite the demands of her sport. Deciding to prepare full-time for the 1980 Olympics after completing her Freshman year at Stanford, she trained with Mark Schubert at the Mission Viejo Nadadores pool facilities, averaging 12,000 to 14,000 meters a day in two sessions.

Jezek married David Paul Wittwer, a chiropractor with a practice in Belmont, California, on September 30, 1990 at Congress Springs Vineyard in Saratoga, California, and planned to live in San Carlos, California. They had four children as of 2002.

Honors In December 1978, she was voted the 1978 Northern California Athlete of the Year by the Northern California Award's Board, part of the Citizen's Saving Athletic Foundation, and in April 1987, was admitted to the Fremont Union High School District Hall of Fame. In a somewhat more noteworthy honor, she was inducted into the "George F. Haines International Swim Center Hall of Fame" in 2002.

Post-swimming career In 1990, Jezek worked as an AT&T Account Executive where she did Market Research, and later co-chaired WATT, a group for Women employees at AT&T, short for Women at AT&T.