Wagner was born in Gainesville, Florida. At the age of 7, she began her competition swimming career in Berlin, Germany, where her father was stationed in the United States. Army. After her father retired from army service, her family moved to Gainesville, and she attended the International Baccalaureate program at Eastside High School in Gainesville.
University of Florida.
Her brothers picked American football and soccer. She attempted ballet, softball and soccer before discovering that she was good at swimming. While in high school, Wagner swam for the Eastside swim team for one semester, and trained for national and international competition with the Florida Aquatics club team under coach Kevin Thornton.
Her winning time in the 200-meter medley (2:0779) stood as the world record in the event for over fourteen years until Zimbabwe"s Kirsty Coventry broke it at the World Short Course Championships in April 2008 in Manchester, England, when Coventry clocked 2:06.13.
Swimming World magazine named Wagner as its American Swimmer of the Year in January 1994—when she was only 16 years old. Wagner graduated early from high school to accept an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, where she swam for coach Chris Martin and coach Kevin Thornton"s Florida Gators swimming and diving teams in National Collegiate Athletics Association (National Collegiate Athletic Association) competition from 1995 to 1998.
Wagner was named the Securities and Exchange Commission Female Swimmer of the Year in 1995 and 1996 and the Gators" Most Valuable Swimmer in 1996, and received eleven All-American honors. Four days later, she swam in the 200-meter individual medley and finished sixth.
On several occasions during Wagner"s career, she was beaten in major championships by swimmers who were highly suspected or later proven to be users of banned performance-enhancing substances.
Besides Michelle Smith in the 1996 Olympics, Wagner finished second behind China"s Dai Guohong in the 1993 Short Course World Championships (200-meter individual medley) and China"s Lü Bin at the 1994 Worlds (both 200-meter and 400-meter individual medley). Dai never failed a drug test, but Lu tested positive a few weeks after beating Wagner. Nevertheless, Lu was allowed to keep her 200-meter individual medley gold medal.
Wagner retired from competition swimming in 2000, but attempted a comeback in 2006-2007.
Wagner won the gold medal in the 200-meter individual medley and the silver medal in the 400-meter individual medley at the 1993 FINA Short Course World Championships in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. At the 1994 United States. long-course championships held in August 1994, she won the national titles in the 200-meter and 400-meter individual medley events, as well as the 200-meter breaststroke. As a Gator swimmer, she won seven Southeastern Conference (Securities and Exchange Commission) titles and the 1995 National Collegiate Athletic Association title in the 400-yard individual medley. At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, Wagner won the silver medal in the 400-meter individual medley, finishing second behind Ireland"s Michelle Smith.
Wagner is a painter and founding member of the International Olympic organization called Art of the Olympians.
