Olympedia – Becky Dyroen-Lancer

Becky Dyroen-Lancer won a gold medal in the group at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Dyroen-Lancer was a dominant force in synchro swimming in the early 1990s. She won four gold medals at the World Championships, winning the group event in 1991 and the solo, duet, and group event in 1994. She likewise won four gold medals at the Pan American Games, winning the solo in 1991, and the Grand Slam of solo, duet, and group in 1995. She won nine titles at FINA World Cups in 1993-95.

Dyroen-Lancer was Swimming World’s Synchronized Swimmer of the Year in 1993, 1994, 1995. She was never beaten in international competition from 1993-97, partnering with Jill Sudduth in the duet. She won nine Grand Slams in national and international competition.

All of this was achieved despite having been born with a heart defect. When she was 5-years-old doctors closed a hole in her heart. She took up synchronized swimming a few years later, and first made the US National Team in 1988.

Dyroen-Lancer worked as a choreographer on the synchronized swimming sequence in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. She also performed in “O” with Cirque du Soleil from 2000-05. She then coached synchronized swimming, but in 2015 changed careers and became a teacher in North Central Florida. Dyroen-Lancer was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2004.