[2] Andrews first trained in the Navy Junior Program as an age-group swimmer, and then moved to the North Baltimore Aquatic Club (NBAC), attending Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore, Maryland, and staying with a succession of five sponsoring local families during her final two years of high school.

[11] She gained her first gold in the women's 100-meter backstroke, narrowly edging fellow American Betsy Mitchell by eight one-hundredths (.08) of a second – about five inches – for a final time of 1:02.55.

[14] She earned her second gold by swimming the lead-off backstroke leg for the first-place U.S. team in the women's 4×100-meter medley relay event, sharing the honors with her American teammates Tracy Caulkins (breaststroke), Mary T. Meagher (butterfly), and Nancy Hogshead (freestyle), and clocking a winning time of 4:08.34.

[17] Andrews later gave her first Olympic gold medal to her brother Danny in a private gathering, honoring him for his courage when he was paralyzed at the age of 19 after being struck by a car two years earlier.

[21] From 1992 to 1999, she worked as a clinical social worker in children's hematology and cancer treatment at the University of Virginia Health Science Center.

[8][23] Andrews delivers motivational speeches for corporations, conferences, community groups and schools, usually on the topics of individual potential and the importance of teamwork in achieving goals, and drawing on the values of the Olympic movement.