Irish Amateur Swimming Association the national championship held in 1990 at the Guinness Pool. By the turn of the millennium Ireland still did not have an Olympic-sized pool placing any swimmer training here at an enormous disadvantage at international competition. At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta Michelle Smith became Ireland's first Olympic medalist in swimming - winning three golds and a bronze. A shadow was cast over these medals when subsequently in 1998 she was banned for 4 years from the sport for tampering with a urine sample using alcohol, during a mandatory out of competition test. In the late 1990s various abuse
Michelle Gerards 2005 she played two doubles matches partnering Dutch veteran Brenda Schultz-McCarthy, winning both, over Poland and Luxembourg. When she returned to the Fed Cup team in 2009 it was as a singles player and she won one match, over Claudine Schaul of Luxembourg. Michelle Gerards Michelle Gerards (born 8 July 1984) is a former professional tennis player from the Netherlands. A right-handed player from Limburg, Gerards was the Dutch under 18s champion at the age of 13 and was a junior quarter-finalist at the 1999 French Open. Most of her professional career was spent on the ITF circuit, reaching a