Michelle Smith

Michelle Smith ( born December 16, 1969 in Rathcoole County Dublin), now better known under her married name Michelle de Bruin, is a former Irish swimmer.

She was three -time gold medal winner at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta (400 meters individual medley, 400m freestyle and 200m individual medley ). She also won the 200m butterfly bronze medal. She cared so single-handedly for the second-best Olympic balance of Ireland of all time.

Their unexpected success led to speculation about alleged doping practices, but it was never proved anything. The suspicion arose from the fact that her coach and husband Erik de Bruin during his discus career received a four-year doping suspension after a too high proportion of testosterone had been proved against him.

Two years later, Michelle Smith has been banned by the world governing body FINA for four years. It was generally accepted that it had operated doping abuse. But the lock was pronounced, because the urine sample was contaminated with alcohol. Smith submitted an appeal, but this proposal was rejected.

The negative experiences with the International Sports Court had an influence on Smith's life after sports career. She began taking an interest in the case-law, studied law and graduated from University College Dublin.