The Fire Within – Debbie Meyer Olympic Success Story

The Fire Within - Debbie Meyer Olympic Success Story

Debbie Weber was born 8/14/1952 and only a year later discovered her love for swimming with an inner tube in the local river (and of course, one of her parents).  She never took a swim lesson, yet in her teens she won 3 gold medals in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics in the 200, 400 and 800 meter freestyle.  She has the license plate 3GOLD68 as a reminder of her amazing accomplishments.

What was it that made her better than the rest of the world?  When she first started swimming on a swim team, it didn't matter to her how she did.  It was just a fun activity she loved.  A few years later, her family came to Sacramento and she tried out for Sherm's group (legendary coach Sherm Chavoor).  She got out of the pool after only 4 laps and told her mom the team was too fast for her.  Fortunately, her mom gave some great advice ... "why give up? just give it a chance."  So she did, and she kept coming back.  Arden Hills Swim and Tennis Club was where Mark Spitz and Mike Burton also trained!

This experience created a fire within her, which was simply to do her best every day.  She also wanted to be on the same team as Sue Pedersen - another young promising athlete.  Eventually she actually beat Sue!  "How did that happen?" she asked herself.  One of the key factors was that only in Florida and California did swimmers practice year-round at that time.  She was driven and loved to work hard in the pool.  They swam twice a day, 6 days a week, and one workout on Sunday.  The only time they rested was two weeks at the end of summer.  She thinks she got her work ethic from her dad - a marine.  Simple work ethic combined with following orders and not questioning her coach (times have changed).

For her a win wasn't important, but better times were her driver.  Whatever she does, she wants to get better and better at every detail of the sport - skiing, golf, whatever ... she takes lessons, gets coaching and practices the details repeatedly.  She set goals of setting an American record and a world record.  In 1967, she qualified for the Pan Am team and came in first with a world record.  This is when she started seriously thinking of the Olympics.

Visualization was also a regular practice for her.  Debbie remembers being in the shade of the bleachers, visualizing her whole race and victory celebration in full color.  She also cut out times and articles from the newspaper and posted them as inspiration on her bedroom wall.  She wrote down her goal race split times in big letters and posted these above her light switch so she would see it at least twice a day.  She also burned in practice with a desire to beat the boys - Mike Burton was her favorite mental target.

I asked her about self-care and diet.  She said she was young and could eat whatever she wanted.  They were burning 7-10,000 calories a day in practices.  The physical effort and exhaustion seemed to keep her out of trouble.  She was also committed to her goals.  Even when the team traveled, she was in bed by 9 pm and just inherently knew that partying would sabotage all her hard work, so she stayed in while other athletes tried to tempt her to join them.  Partying and dating could come later.  She was truly happy and never felt like she was missing anything.  How many teens can say they've traveled the world representing their country?

I also asked her about how she dealt with fear or nerves.  She replied that she didn't have any.  "Fear comes from the unknown or being unprepared".  Debbie had confidence because she put in 100% every day, all the time and she trusted her coach.  She never took a day off and practiced on every holiday.  She knew that if she lost even one day, it would take 3-5 days to get back to that level.  She also knew that her best competition was also practicing those days.

Her coach Sherm Chavoor became a legend as well.  He was revolutionary in studying and reading about the interval or speed play techniques used by the Japanese in 1932 in Los Angeles and coach Sakamoto's practice regimen famous for developing Hawaiian swimmer champions in 1928.  It takes a team to create a world-class athlete.  Her mom would rub down her tired and sore muscles every night.  Her coach also helped with entry fees, and her parents helped financially.  All the great athletes inspired each other.

What an incredibly talented, dedicated, disciplined and driven athlete.  The world watched in wonder as she won three gold medals in 1968 in Mexico.  She said it was all worth it.  Not the medals and fame, but the life lessons.  "Success comes from desire, determination and dedication", she said.  She also learned that she could do anything she put her mind to.  She opened her own swim school, and had such joy and passion helping the young and old learn to swim and exercise.  When asked what advice she would give young athletes today (or business owners), she said "follow your heart, don't do it for other reasons or people."

Congratulations Debbie Meyer and thank you for being an inspiration to us all.

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