Mary Wayte Bradburne
Mary Wayte is a former freestyle swimmer from the United States, who won the gold medal in the Women's 200m Freestyle at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.
She returned to the Olympic arena in 1988 winning the silver medal on the 4x100m Medley Relay and the bronze medal as a member of the 4x100m Freestyle Relay. In Seoul, she also competed in the 200m Freestyle finishing fourth, and the 200m Individual Medley, showing her swimming versatility. That year, one of her teammates was none other than Swim Across America Executive Director, Janel Jorgensen.
Although Wayte was raised on Mercer Island, Washington, she did most of her international swimming in Florida under coach Randy Reese at the University of Florida and the Holmes Lumber Team. As a U.S. National Team member from 1981 to 1988, Wayte's international career sparkled as a medalist on teams competing in Japan (1981, 1985), France (1982), Holland (1982), Venezuela (1983), Monaco (1985), Spain (1986) and South Korea (1988). At the 1983 Pan American Games, she won the silver medal in the 200m freestyle, just behind Hall of Famer Cynthia Woodhead. She won the gold medal as a member of the 4x100m freestyle relay, completing her medal collection.
After retirement, Wayte's swimming connection took her to television where she became a color commentator for Sports Channel featuring swim meets and crowd interviews at NBA games. She served as NBC’s color commentator for women’s swimming at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, and continued to cover women’s collegiate swimming for the ESPN network at the NCAA National Championships. She has been a promoter for Speedo, Alamo, the National Spa and Pool Institute, the International Swimming Hall of Fame and other organizations. Wayte was inducted into the University of Florida’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999, followed by the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Pacific Northwest Swimming Hall of Fame in 2003.
She is joining Swim Across America's inaugural Seattle Swim in 2009.
