Mary Wayte

Mary Alice Bradburne (née Wayte; March 25, 1965) is an American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and television sports commentator. During her international swimming career, Wayte won ten medals in major international championships, including four golds.

Early years

Wayte was born and raised on Mercer Island, Washington, where she swam for the Chinook Aquatic Club under Hall of Fame Coach Jack Ridley. As a 16-year-old high school sophomore, Wayte won three gold medals in the 200-meter freestyle, the 200-meter backstroke and the 800-meter freestyle relay at the National Sport Festival. She won eight Washington state high school swimming titles in five different events while attending Mercer Island High School.

College swimming career

Wayte accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where she swam for coach Randy Reese's Florida Gators swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition from 1983 to 1987. As a Gator swimmer, she won two individual NCAA national titles in the 100-yard freestyle and the 400-yard individual medley in 1985. She won the High Point Award at the 1985 NCAA championships. At the 1983 Pan American Games in Caracas, Venezuela, she won a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. 4×100-meter freestyle relay team, and the silver medal in the 200-meter freestyle event. Her winning 200-meter time of 1:59.23 was her career best to date, overcoming Woodhead's early lead in the final 50 meters. She earned her second Olympic gold medal by swimming in the preliminary heat for the winning U.S. women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay team.

At the 1985 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, Wayte won an individual silver medal in the 200-meter freestyle, and a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. 4×200-meter freestyle relay team, which set an American record of 8:06.74.

At the 1986 World Aquatics Championships, Wayte won a silver medal as the anchor of the 4×200-meter freestyle relay team with teammates Betsy Mitchell, Mary T. Meagher, and Kim Brown, which set another American record of 8:02.12. She won a second silver medal for swimming in the preliminary heat of the 4×100-meter freestyle relay, and finished fifth in the individual 200-meter freestyle. In the event final, the U.S. medley relay team included women with no history of competing together, no relay exchange practice, and no coach; the East German favorites taunted the Americans before the race. and was a medal contender in the women's 200-meter individual medley, but was disqualified when the judges ruled she used an illegal butterfly kick on the breaststroke leg of the medley.

Life after swimming

Wayte graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in telecommunications in 1989. She retired from competition swimming following the 1988 Olympics, and worked as a fund-raiser for the International Swimming Hall of Fame. She became a celebrity promoter and endorsed products and services on behalf of Alamo Rent a Car, the National Spa and Pool Institute, and Speedo.

She later worked as a television broadcaster for the Sports Channel network, covering NCAA and international swimming competitions and interviewing fans at NBA games.

Wayte was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 1998, the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2000, The community swimming pool where she formerly trained in Mercer Island, Washington was renamed "Mary Wayte Pool".

Wayte has two daughters. Wayte is Vice Chair of the USA Swimming Foundation and co-captain of Team Wayte for Swim Across America, a charitable organization that enlists former Olympic swimmers to raise funds for cancer research.