[2] At 15 years old, she won three gold medals at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany.

In the women's 100-meter backstroke, Belote defeated her American teammate and world-record holder Susie Atwood.

She won a third gold medal by swimming the lead-off backstroke leg for the winning U.S. team in the women's 4×100-meter medley relay.

She and her teammates Cathy Carr (breaststroke), Deena Deardurff (butterfly), and Sandy Neilson (freestyle) set a new world record of 4:20.75 in the relay final.

She received the Honda Sports Award for Swimming and Diving, recognizing her as the outstanding college female swimmer of the year in 1976–77.