Smith first appeared on the world scene as an 18-year-old at the Seoul Olympics and only narrowly missed the B-final in the 200 m backstroke (top 16). Smith's second major championship was at the 1991 World Championships in Perth, Australia, where she finished 13th in the 400 m individual medley. She competed at the 1991 European Championships and qualified for the 1992 Olympic Games. She competed in the 200 m medley and backstroke and 400 m medley in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, despite suffering an injury in the months leading up to the Games. In 1993 she trained with Erik de Bruin, whom she had met in Barcelona. Both would start a relationship, and eventually marry in 1996. She finished fifth in the 200 m butterfly at the 1994 World Championships. In that same year, she had suffered glandular fever, which affected her training prior to the World Championships.