Samantha Riley

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Medal record
Samantha Riley
Women's Swimming
Competitor for  Australia
Olympic Games
Silver	1996 Atlanta	4x100m Medley
Bronze	1992 Barcelona	100m Breaststroke
Bronze	1996 Atlanta	100m Breaststroke
World Championships (LC)
Gold	1994 Rome	100m Breaststroke
Gold	1994 Rome	200m Breaststroke
World Championsips (SC)
Gold	1995 Rio	100m Breaststroke
Gold	1995 Rio	200m Breaststroke
Gold	1995 Rio	4x100m Medley
Silver	1999 Hong Kong	4x100m Medley
Bronze	1999 Hong Kong	100m Breaststroke
Pan Pacific Championships
Gold	1997 Fukuoka	100m Breaststroke
Gold	1997 Fukuoka	200m Breaststroke
Silver	1991 Edmonton	100m Breaststroke
Silver	1991 Edmonton	200m Breaststroke
Silver	1997 Fukuoka	4x100m Medley

Samantha Linette Riley (born November 13, 1972) is an Australian breaststroke swimmer of Aboriginal descent^[1] of the 1990s who competed for Australia in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, winning three medals.

Having been advised as a child to begin swimming to combat asthma, the Brisbane schoolgirl broke into the Australian team for the 1991 World Championships in Perth, winning a silver medal in the medley relay. The following year, Riley won a bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, as well as competing in the 200m event.

In 1994, Riley won both breaststroke events at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada, and repeated the feat at the World Championships in Rome, Italy, setting a world record of 1min 07.69s in the 100m event. This prompted Swimming World magazine to name her as the Female World Swimmer of the Year.

Riley continued to sweep all before her in 1995, but arrived for the Atlanta Olympics under the cloud of a doping controversy. She had failed a drug test, and was only exonerated after her coach Scott Volkers admitted to giving her a headache tablet which contained the banned substance. Under the pressure of the controversy, Riley performed well outside her personal best times, which would have been enough for gold. She collected a bronze in the 100m breaststroke. She also collected a silver medal in the 4x100m relay with Nicole Stevenson, Susie O'Neill and Sarah Ryan.

Riley never stood on the podium again as an individual at the world level, but maintained her position in the Australian squad. Many anticipated her to return to her peak at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, but a kidney infection disrupted her training and she was ousted from the team at the Selection Trials by 14-year old prodigy Leisel Jones. She left the pool in tears, and subsequently retired.

At one stage during the mid 1990s, Riley was the girlfriend of Norwegian Olympic champion speedskater Johann Olav Koss. This sparked media speculation that he would compete for Australia at the Winter Olympics.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• FINA profile for Samantha Riley
• Swimming Australia profile for Samantha Riley

Awards
Preceded by Franziska van Almsick	World Swimmer of the Year 1994	Succeeded by Krisztina Egerszegi
Preceded by Jingyi Le	World Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year 1997	Succeeded by Susie O'Neill