Samantha Riley

Samantha Riley
Personal information
Full name Samantha Linette Riley
Nickname(s) "Sam"
Nationality  Australia
Born 13 November 1972 (1972-11-13) (age 39)
Brisbane, Queensland
Height 160 cm
Weight 59 kg
Sport
Sport Swimming
Stroke(s) breaststroke
Club Commercial Swim Club

Samantha Linette Riley (born 13 November 1972) is an Australian breaststroke swimmer of Aboriginal descent[1][2] of the 1990s who competed for Australia in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, winning three medals. She trained under Scott Volkers at the Commercial Swimming Club in Brisbane.

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.

The major artial Samantha Riley Drive in Beaumont Hills is named after her.

References

  1. ^ "Indigenous Olympic Medallists". Australian Sports Commission. Archived from the original on 2006-08-27. http://web.archive.org/web/20060827071630/http://www.ausport.gov.au/isp/medallists.asp. Retrieved 2006-08-21. 
  2. ^ www.aiatsis.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/5590/Indig_Autobiographies2006.pdf

External links

Awards
Preceded by
Franziska van Almsick		 World Swimmer of the Year
1994		 Succeeded by
Krisztina Egerszegi
Preceded by
Le Jingyi		 World Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year
1997		 Succeeded by
Susie O'Neill
  • 1962 – 1966: 110 Yards Breaststroke
  • 1970 – 2010: 100 Metres Breaststroke
  • 1930 – 1934: 200 yards
  • 1938 – 1966: 220 yards
  • 1970 – 2010: 200 metres