Debra Sapenter

{{short description|American sprinter}}

{{BLP sources|date=September 2012}}

{{Infobox sportsperson

| name = Debra Sapenter

| image =

| caption =

| fullname = Debra Elaine Sapenter

| birth_date = {{birth-date and age|February 27, 1952}}

| birth_place = Prairie View, Texas, U.S.

| headercolor = lightsteelblue

| show-medals = yes

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalSport | Women's athletics }}

{{MedalCountry | {{flagu|United States}} }}

{{MedalOlympics}}

{{MedalSilver | 1976 Montreal | 4 × 400 meters }}

}}

Debra Elaine Sapenter (born February 27, 1952), is an American athlete who competed mainly in the 400 meters. She was born in Prairie View, Texas. In 1975 she was rated as the number one 400 meter women's sprinter in the United States.{{Cite web |url=http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/rankings/women/400usranking.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2007-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927195154/http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/rankings/women/400usranking.pdf |archive-date=2007-09-27 |url-status=dead }} She competed for United States in the 1976 Summer Olympics, held in Montreal, in the 4 × 400 metres relay where she won the silver medal with her teammates Sheila Ingram, Pamela Jiles and Rosalyn Bryant.

After her running career Sapenter found a career in Information Technology holding Corporate Information Officer positions at Genuity, Harvard Pilgrim HealthCare / Harvard Vanguard, and Zürich Financial Group. In 1995 she was inducted into the Southwestern Athletic Conference Hall of Fame as Debra Sapenter-Speight.{{Cite web |url=http://www.swac.org/halloffame/hofindex.htm |title=Archived copy |access-date=2007-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070303055421/http://swac.org/halloffame/hofindex.htm |archive-date=2007-03-03 |url-status=dead }}