Background
Her father, Peter, is a swim coach.
Her father, Peter, is a swim coach.
She graduated from Mount Sinai High School in Long Island, New New York Smit attended Stanford University, where she was an anthropology major and a member of the Stanford Cardinal swimming and diving team
Smit has an older brother, Mike, and a younger brother, Kevin, who are also swimmers. As a high school student-athlete, Smit set New York state records in the 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard individual medley, swimming with the Three Village Swim Club. Smit is the current American record holder in the 200 and 400-yard individual medley (short course), and 200 and 400-meter individual medley (short course).
2007-2008 At the 2008 United States. Olympic Team Trials, Smit finished third in the 200-meter freestyle and sixth in the 100-meter freestyle, earning berths for the 4x100 and 4×200-meter freestyle relays.
Smit also finished third in the 400-meter individual medley at the trials. On November 28, 2008, Smit set her first world record at the Canada Cup in Toronto, Ontario, breaking Kirsty Coventry"s short course 400-meter individual medley record.
Smit also placed second in the 400-meter individual medley, and fourth in the 100-meter freestyle with a career-best 54.38. At the World Aquatics Championships in Rome, Smit placed ninth in the 200-meter individual medley (2:1029), barely missing a place in the final.
Smit also swam in the preliminaries of the 4×100-meter freestyle, which placed fourth in the final, and the freestyle leg of the 4×100-meter medley relay, which did not advance to the final.
At the Duel in the Pool, Smit reclaimed the world record in the short course 400 m individual medley with a time of 4:21.04. One day later, she also broke the world record in the 200 m individual medley with a time of 2:04.60.
Smit was a member of the silver medal-winning United States. team in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay and the bronze medal-winning team in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the 2008 Summer Olympics, swimming in the preliminary heats of both relay events.