Deborah Gruen started swimming when she was 5-years-old. She enrolled into Yale University in 2006 and is currently studies Chinese at Peking University. She began competing for Paralympic Games in 2004 where she won her first bronze medal in 2004 Paralympic Games which were held in Athens, Greece for breaststroke. Four years later she won another one at 2008 Summer Paralympics which were held in Beijing, China. In 2009, she was awarded silver medal at Paralympic World Cup which was held at Manchester, England. Besides Olympics she also held two world records in 2006 for breaststroke and freestyle at U.S. Paralympics Swimming National Championships in San Antonio, Texas and one more in 2009 for individual medley at Spring Canadian-American Championships in Portland, Oregon.