Linda Jezek

Linda Jezek (full name Linda Louise Jezek, later Wittwer) is an American former competitive swimmer, born in 1960 in Palo Alto, California, who specialized in backstroke. She won a silver medal in the women's 4 × 100 m medley relay at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montréal, set the long-course world record in the 200 m backstroke in 1978, and won three gold medals at the 1978 World Aquatics Championships.¹

Early career and the 1976 Olympics

Jezek won the AAU national title in the 100 m backstroke in 1975 and 1976, then won the same event at the 1976 United States Olympic Final Trials, where she also placed third in the 200 m backstroke. Countries could enter up to three swimmers per individual event at the 1976 Olympics, and the United States entered multiple swimmers in some events. Jezek's only individual event at Montréal was the 100 m backstroke.^{1 • 10}

Her individual Olympic race ended in the semifinals. In the medley relay final, the American team of Jezek, Lauri Siering, Camille Wright, and Shirley Babashoff finished second in 4:14.55, with Jezek swimming the backstroke lead-off leg in 1:04.15, behind the East German team's world-record 4:07.95.³

The margin behind East Germany later took on a different meaning. In 1998, trainers and doctors admitted in a German court that the East German government had routinely administered performance-enhancing drugs to athletes, including minors, during the 1970s and 1980s. Jezek, who was 16 at the Montréal Games, said she had assumed that if the East Germans were cheating, it would be caught.⁴ In the late 1990s the United States Olympic Committee said it would pursue the case for gold medals for the 1976 women's medley relay team, with its president prepared to ask the IOC for golds for Jezek, Lauri Siering, Camille Wright, and Shirley Babashoff once it received a written report from the German court case.⁵

World titles and the 200 m backstroke world record

Jezek's first world-championship medal came at the 1975 World Aquatics Championships in Cali, Colombia, where she won silver in the 4 × 100 m medley relay, placed fifth in the 100 m backstroke, and 12th in the 200 m backstroke.⁶

At the 1978 World Championships in West Berlin she swept the backstroke events, winning gold in the 100 m backstroke, the 200 m backstroke, and the 4 × 100 m medley relay.¹ Her winning 200 m backstroke time of 2:11.93 was a world record that stood until 27 July 1980, when East Germany's Rica Reinisch swam 2:11.77 in the Moscow Olympic final; Olympedia's event history notes that Jezek would have been the favorite in that race had the United States participated.⁷ She also held the American record in the 100 m backstroke at 1:02.55, set in West Berlin in August 1978.⁸

1979 Pan American Games and the 1980 boycott

At the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan, Jezek won three gold medals, in the 100 m backstroke, the 200 m backstroke, and the 4 × 100 m medley relay.¹ She was named to the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team in the women's 100 m and 200 m backstroke,² but the United States boycotted the Moscow Games, so she did not compete.

Stanford and later life

Jezek began swimming for Stanford University on a scholarship in the fall of 1978.

She was named Northern California Athlete of the Year for 1978 in December of that year, and in 2002 she was inducted into the George F. Haines International Swim Center Hall of Fame.⁹

References

1. Linda Jezek, Olympedia
2. Record, Personnel: VE04-Swimming, Jezek Linda, 1980 U.S. Olympic Team, Team USA Archivist
3. 1976 Olympic Games Results, USA Swimming
4. Drugs and Sports: Viewpoints, At Issue (East German doping admissions)
5. Swimming: Swimmers to press for gold despite rebuff, The Independent
6. Linda Jezek, InterSportStats
7. 200 metres Backstroke, Women (1980), Olympedia
8. 1981 Technical Rules, USA Swimming (United States swimming records)
9. KOSMAS 28.1 (2015), Czech and Slovak biographical studies
10. The Greatest Team in History How the U S Men Dominated the 1976 Olympic Games 50th Anniversary, ishof.org

Initially written Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 25, 2026

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