Susan Rapp

1980 Olympic trials On July 31, 1980, at the U.S. Swimming Nationals and Olympic Trials in Irvine, California, while swimming for Starlit Aquatic Club at the age of 15, she placed third in the 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2:35.08, though first place finisher Tracy Caulkins, in a tie with Terri Baxter, finished only around half a second ahead of her. Rapp placed third in the 100-meter breaststroke with a 1:12.93 once again behind Tracy Caulkins and Baxter. Her sisters Jenny and Betsy also competed in stroke events at the trials, but were not selected for the U.S. Olympic team.

Though she qualified for the 1980 Olympic games in Moscow, Rapp was unable to compete due to the United States-led boycott of the Olympic games hosted by the Soviet Union. At Stanford, Rapp received varsity letters in swimming in 1984 and from 1986–88, as she did not swim in 1985. She served as Captain from 1987–88, and captured a total of four NCAA titles during her career at Stanford, which consisted of three individual and one relay title. She was a Pac-10 Conference champion six times. During her collegiate swimming career, she was mentored by Hall of Fame Coach George Haines who coached the Stanford Women's team from around 1982-1988, and started the Santa Clara Swim Club, an exceptional age group program, in 1951. By 1988, she earned a Masters Degree in Sociology from Stanford.

After completing her time at Stanford, she married Paul von der Lippe, moved to Colorado, and began a career in marketing. After her children were born, she focused on a career as a homemaker, though her considerable focus on high level training with United States Masters Swimming also consumed some of her time.

1984 Olympic gold and silver medals At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, she had significant success. She won a silver medal for her second-place performance in the women's 200-meter breaststroke, with a time of 2:31.15, finishing only .77 seconds behind the first place Canadian, Ann Ottenbrite who won Canada's first gold medal in swimming. Rapp moved up from sixth place in the early race, and in the last lap moved from third to second.

She earned a gold medal at the 84 Olympics by swimming for the winning U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the women's 4×100-meter medley relay. The Dutch team, a close rival, was eliminated in a preliminary round due to a disqualification when a member started before their teammate had fully finished their leg and touched the wall. Another close rival, the Australian team, were disqualified in a preliminary round for the same reason. The U.S. team led from the first leg, winning in a combined time of 4:08.34, to finish ahead of second-place West Germany by 3.5 seconds, a significant margin.

In individual competition, she finished seventh in the final of the women's 100-meter breaststroke, recording a time of 1:11.45.

In 1985, von der Lippe had surgery on both knees, due to inflamed ligaments largely from the rigors of breaststroke training and competition, but was able to make the U.S. World Championship team in 1986, after a year of recovery. She met the immediate requirements for making the trials at the age of 40, at the Western Region Long Course Championships on July 16, 2005, where she swam a 1:12.49 in the 100 breaststroke.01 seconds below the Olympic qualifying time, and a world record time for her age group. At the age of 40, she become the oldest person at the time to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Swimming trials. Her prior 100-meter breaststroke time which qualified her for the 1980 Olympics at age 15 was remarkably a half a second slower than the time she swam to qualify for the 2008 Olympics at age 50.

In the 90's, Rapp raised a family, trained, and instructed at a few swim clinics that often featured other Olympians, including one in June, 1994, in Ocala, Florida, where she teamed with Olympians Jill Johnson and Sean Killion. In August 1999, she served as an instructor at a U.S. Swimming Gold Medal Clinic in Missoula, Montana. In July 2021, she welcomed guests and signed autographs with other Olympians at the official July opening of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She instructed at another USA Gold Medal Swimming Clinic in McAllen, Texas in August 2000.

Returning to the workforce, in 2018 Von der Lippe worked with SwimLabs in Fort Collins, Colorado, where she taught young swimmers to swim, and provided competitive lessons. She operated her own marketing company, www.igbbmarketing.com. She holds Masters World records in breaststroke, butterfly, and individual medley in the 40–44 and 45–49 age groups. Showing exceptional dominance and stroke diversity in December 2005, at the age of 40 she set U.S. Masters's world record age group marks, in the 50 meter, 100 meter and 200-meter events. She also set world records in the 50 and 100-meter fly, and came close to setting records in the 100 free, 200 fly and 100 IM.

Honors von der Lippe was inducted in the Stanford University Athletic Hall of Fame in April, 2020.