Susie O'Neill

Susie O'Neill
Personal information
Full name Susan O'Neill
Nickname(s) Madame Butterfly
Nationality  Australia
Born 2 August 1973 (1973-08-02) (age 38)
Sport
Sport Swimming

Susan ("Susie") O'Neill OAM[1] (born 2 August 1973) is an Australian former competitive swimmer from Brisbane, Queensland. She was nicknamed "Madame Butterfly". She won the 200 m butterfly at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the 200 m freestyle in Sydney.[2] She trained under Scott Volkers at the Commercial Swimming Club in Brisbane. She holds the Australian women’s record for the most Olympic medals (eight), with Dawn Fraser, Leisel Jones and Petria Thomas.[3]

After winning a gold and a silver medal in her first attendance at a competition at the 1990 Commonwealth Games, O'Neill never failed to win a medal at any international meet she attended, right up until her final Olympics in front of a home crowd in Australia. At the 2000 Australia Trials before the Sydney Olympics, she broke the 19-year old world record of another "Madame Butterfly: Mary T. Meagher in the women's 200m butterfly, but was beaten at the Sydney games by American Misty Hyman, in an upset; Hyman lowered her personal best by around 3% during the meet.

Contents

Life

O'Neill was educated at Lourdes Hill College in Brisbane. She is now married to Cliff and a mother of two children, Alix and William.

In 2002, she was inducted into Sport Australia's Hall of Fame.[4]

Post swimming career

O'Neill is an ambassador for the Fred Hollows Foundation.[5] She is also ambassador for companies such as SAAB and Kellogg's, and has her own line of swimsuits that is sold in Target stores throughout Australia.[6]

She commentated at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She was the Oceania athletes' representative on the International Olympic Committee to 2005, when she resigned her membership (and was replaced by Barbara Kendall).

On 10 March 2007, O'Neill was honoured by having the temporary swimming pool in the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne named after her for the duration of the 12th FINA World Championships, the site of the swimming events.

External links

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ "ESPN Sydney Swimming". http://static.espn.go.com/oly/summer00/swimming/index.html. Retrieved 2009-03-13. 
  3. ^ Australian Women Biographical Entry: O'Neill, Susie (1973-)
  4. ^ Susan O'Neill - Awards And Accomplishments
  5. ^ Statement by Susie O'Neill, as published in The Australian Women's Weekly
  6. ^ Susan O'Neill - World Fastest, Australia's Best
Records
Preceded by
Mary T. Meagher		 Women's 200 metre butterfly
world record holder (long course)
17 May 2000 – 4 August 2002		 Succeeded by
Otylia Jędrzejczak
Preceded by
Incumbent		 Women's 200 metre butterfly
world record holder (short course)
17 February 1999 – 18 January 2004		 Succeeded by
Yang Yu
Awards
Preceded by
Incumbent		 World Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year
1995		 Succeeded by
Le Jingyi
Preceded by
Samantha Riley		 World Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year
1998 – 2000		 Succeeded by
Petria Thomas
  • 1930: 400 yards
  • 1934 – 1966: 440 yards
  • 1970 – 2010: 400 metres
  • 1966: 220 Yards Butterfly
  • 1970 – 2010: 200 Metres Butterfly