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Michelle Smith (born 16 December 1969 in Rathcoole, County Dublin, now more commonly referred to by her married name, Michelle de Bruin) is a retired Irish swimmer and practising Irish barrister. She was a triple gold medallist at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, for the 400 m individual medley, 400 m freestyle and 200 m individual medley. She also won the bronze medal for the 200 m butterfly event.
Significant controversy followed these victories, particularly after U.S. swimmer Janet Evans at a press conference accused Smith of doping immediately following Evans' defeat. These accusations were not proved at the time. However, as David Wallechinsky writes in his Complete Book of the Summer Olympics series, doubts about Smith involved the fact that no Irish swimmer had ever won an Olympic medal and that Smith's previous Olympic record had been "mediocre". Suspicions about her suddenly improving performances at an age considered to be late in a swimmer's career had been raised earlier, following her medal wins at the 1995 European Championships. Moreover, her husband and coach, Erik de Bruin, a Dutch discus and shot put thrower, had failed a drug test in 1993 and had been suspended from competition.
Smith later received a four-year suspension in 1998 after being found guilty of tampering with a urine sample. The ban was imposed after a urine sample taken during a routine random drug test was found to be contaminated with alcohol.[1] The bodybuilding drug Androstenedione was also found in her samples.[2]
Swimming career
Smith first appeared on the world scene as an 18-year-old at the Seoul Olympics but failed to progress beyond the heats of the four events into which she was entered. Smith's second major championship was at the 1991 World Championships in Perth, Australia, where she finished 13th in the 400 m individual medley. She competed at the 1991 European Championships and qualified for the 1992 Olympic Games. She competed in the 200 m medley and backstroke and 400 m medley in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, despite suffering an injury in the months leading up to the Games. In 1993 she came under the wing of Erik de Bruin, whom she had met in Barcelona. With new training techniques[citation needed] she finished fifth in the 200 m butterfly at the 1994 World Championships.
In 1995, Smith set Irish records in 50 m, 100 m, 400 m and 800 m freestyle, 100 m backstroke, 100 m and 200 m butterfly, and 200 m and 400 m medley events. She was ranked number 1 in 200 m butterfly, sixth in 100 m butterfly and seventh in 200 m medley; she made sporting history by becoming the first Irishwoman to win a European title in 200 m butterfly and the individual 400 m medley in the same year.
Controversy and doping ban
Smith was single-handedly responsible for Ireland's second-largest ever medal haul at one Olympics. Originally her application to compete at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta was rejected but later accepted on appeal. Smith's success led to hints from other swimmers, notably Evans, of possible foul play, but these were not substantiated at the time. The suspicion stemmed from the fact of her sudden rise in performance and that her coach, Erik de Bruin, had served a four-year ban during his discus career after testing positive for illegal levels of testosterone.
In 1995, Erik de Bruin was refused a coach's accreditation to the European Championships in Vienna because of his four-year ban. He used a falsified accreditation badge of a Belgian official to gain entry into the doping control area. In the anti-doping area, Erik proceeded to mark up Michelle's doping control form with comments regarding the sloppiness of the control procedures in Dutch.[3][4] It was reported that in 1996 and 1997, the International Swimming Federation (FINA) had concerns about Smith's repeated unavailability for random out-of-competition testing. Her submitted training schedule was left totally blank, apart from her name and nationality, making it difficult to predict her movements. It has been suggested that Smith's behaviour during this period is wholly consistent with the typical behaviour of others who have subsequently been found guilty of drug taking offences.[2] However, Smith was provided with a letter from the International Swimming Federation confirming that it was satisfied that she had complied with her obligations and participation in out of competition testing.[citation needed]
Prior to the beginning of the games, swimming analyst Gary O'Toole flagged what he predicted would be an unbelievable performance in the games by Smith. He intimated that such an improvement in performance could not be naturally achieved. Naturally the Irish broadcaster RTÉ balked at the controversial claims and essentially gagged the analyst for fear of litigation.
Two years after the Atlanta Games, FINA banned Smith for four years for tampering with her urine sample using alcohol.[1] She appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Her case was heard by a panel of three experienced sports lawyers, including Michael Beloff QC. Uniquely for a CAS hearing, De Bruin's case was heard in public, at her own lawyer's request.[5] FINA submitted evidence from Dr Jordi Segura, head of the IOC-accredited laboratory in Barcelona, which said she took the bodybuilding drug Androstenedione, a metabolic precursor of testosterone, the night before the test. It also became known that three samples, taken between November 1997 and March 1998, had shown traces of Androstenedione.[2][6][7] The CAS upheld the ban.
She was 28 at the time, and the ban effectively ended her competitive swimming career. Although Smith lost some of her popularity and her career achievements were somewhat discredited, she was not stripped of her Olympic medals, because her doping offense was detected sometime after the games. Thus, she remains Ireland's most successful ever Olympian.
After the ban
Her experiences at the CAS had an effect beyond her swimming career. It was there that she developed an interest in the law; after officially announcing her retirement from swimming in 1999, she returned to university, graduating from University College Dublin with a degree in law. In July 2005 she was conferred with the degree of Barrister at Law of King's Inns, Dublin. While a student at the King's Inns she won the highly prestigious internal Brian Walsh Moot Court competition. Her first book, Transnational Litigation: Jurisdiction and Procedure was published in 2008 by Thomson Round Hall [8].
In October 2007 Michelle took part in Celebrities Go Wild for the Irish charity People In Need. At the launch of the series, she refused to appear on The Late Late Show if host Pat Kenny made any reference to her swimming career. This came after RTÉ show executives told the former swimmer that some reference would have to be made to her controversial past. After the show, an RTÉ spokesperson confirmed that Michelle had made the decision not to take part when faced with the ultimatum.[9]
Michelle has never admitted using illegal performance enhancing drugs and has thorougly denied the accusations, or publicly explained her controversial past as a swimmer. She is currently a practising barrister at law.
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