Deena Deardurff (Schmidt) (born May 8, 1957) is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 swimmer

Swimming (sport)

Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

 and Olympic champion, former college swim coach, and a self-identified victim of sex abuse allegedly by her former coach.

Swimming

Deena swam for the Cincinnati Marlins, a team funded by Charles Keating

Charles Keating

Charles Humphrey Keating Jr. is an American athlete, lawyer, real estate developer, banker, and financier, most known for his role in the savings and loan scandal of the late 1980s....

. One of the team coaches was Paul Bergen

Paul Bergen

Paul Bergen is an Olympic swimming coach from the United States. He has coached in the USA and Canada, winning coach of the year honors in both countries in different years. He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an Honor Coach in 1988. He has coached swimmers to 21 World,...

, who is reported to have said that swimmers need 12,000 miles of experience in order to compete in the Olympics. Deena competed at the 1972 Olympic Games

1972 Summer Olympics

The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....

 in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, where she received a gold medal in the 4 × 100 m medley

Medley swimming

Medley is a combination of four different swimming styles into one race. This race is either swum by one swimmer as individual medley or by four swimmers as a medley relay...

 relay and was 4th place in the 100 m butterfly at the age of 15. She received a silver medal in the 4 × 100 m medley relay at the first World Aquatics Championships

1973 World Aquatics Championships

The first FINA World Championships in Aquatics were held in the Tašmajdan Sports Centre in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, from August 31 to September 9, 1973.-Medal table:-Diving:MenWomen-Swimming:MenWomen- Synchronised swimming :Women...

 in Belgrad in 1973.

Sex Abuse

Deardurff alleged that she was abused by her coach beginning at age 11, but did not speak about it at the time. She first revealed the abuse to her parents at age 17, later discussing the issue with other coaches and friends. In 2010, she spoke publicly about the issue of abuse by coaches.

Coaching

She was the head coach of San Diego State University

San Diego State University

San Diego State University , founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in the greater San Diego area , and is part of the California State University system...

's swimming and diving program until her contract was non-renewed in 2007. San Diego State was without a swimming pool facility, and she was battling cancer at the time of her non-renewal. She filed suit against the school in 2007 and won $1.45 million in settlement.

Personal life

Deardurff resides in El Cajon, California. She has two sons, Michael Ryan Schmidt who swam for UNLV before graduating in May 2004 and Tyler Robert Schmidt who attended San Diego State University and graduated in May 2007.
Deardurff is now a survivor of breast cancer and was named as the Susan G. Komen spokesperson for the 2008 year where she will help spread awareness about early detection for anyone over the age of 40 or with a known family history.