Amanda Jo Weir (born March 11, 1986) is an American swimmer and Olympic silver medalist. She was a member of the 2012 United States Olympic Team, and won a bronze medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Born in Davenport, Iowa, Weir started swimming while the family lived in Apple Valley, Minnesota.
Weir holds many of the sprint freestyle age group records for USA Swimming, setting her first record at age 12, in the 50-yard freestyle in 23.17 seconds. She attended Brookwood High School in Snellville, Georgia, and led the Brookwood swim team to four consecutive Georgia Class 5A state championships.
At the 2004 Summer Olympics, Weir swam the third leg in the U.S. team for the Women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay. Leading after her leg of the relay, the U.S. team finished second to the Australians, setting an American Record with their finishing time. Weir earned a Silver medal in the 4×100-meter medley relay by helping her team qualify for the final.
Weir became a freshman at the University of Georgia in 2004, where her team dominated the 2005 NCAA championships, with Weir anchoring four of the unprecedented five UGA winning relays. She was recognized as the Atlanta Amateur Athlete of the Year for 2005. Weir left the University of Georgia after her freshman year and transferred to the University of Southern California in 2006. After a single semester at USC, Weir decided to end her college swimming career to begin swimming professionally.
At the 2006 ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championship, Weir broke the American record in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 53.58.
At the 2012 United States Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, the U.S. qualifying meet for the Olympics, Weir made the U.S. Olympic team for the second time by finishing fifth in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 54.41, which qualified her to swim in the 4×100-meter freestyle as a member of the U.S. relay team. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, she earned a bronze medal as a member of the third-place U.S. team in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay.
Famous quotes containing the word weir:
“The first thing to be done by a biographer in estimating character is to examine the stubs of his victim’s cheque-books.”
—Silas Weir Mitchell (1829–1914)