| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Tamsyn Lewis |
||
| Women's athletics | ||
| Competitor for Australia | ||
| World Indoor Championships | ||
| Gold | Valencia 2008 | 800 metres |
| Silver | Maebashi 1999 | 4x400 m relay |
| Commonwealth Games | ||
| Gold | Kuala Lumpur 1998 | 4x400 m relay |
| Gold | Manchester 2002 | 4x400 m relay |
| Gold | Melbourne 2006 | 4x400 m relay |
| World Junior Championships | ||
| Bronze | Sydney 1996 | 4x400 m relay |
Tamsyn Carolyn Lewis (born 20 July 1978) is an Australian athlete and middle-distance runner, who has won a total of seventeen Australian Championships at 400 metres, 800 metres and 400m hurdles.[1]
An Australian international representative since 1994, Lewis won the World Indoor Championship at 800 metres[2] in March 2008.
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She was born and raised in Melbourne, Victoria and attended Methodist Ladies' College and Caulfield Grammar School.[3]
Her mother Carolyn Wright was a six time national high jump champion, while her father, Greg Lewis, was a semi finalist in the 200 metres at the Mexico City Olympic Games.
Through her career Lewis has been assisted by a number of well-known athletics coaches, including Peter Fortune (Cathy Freeman's coach), Sebastian Coe and Daley Thompson. Her husband is Australian cricketer Graham Manou.[2][4]
Lewis burst onto the national athletics scene in 1994, winning several events at the Australian Championships: the Under-16 100 m/200 m double and the Under-20 400 m. After these performances she was chosen, aged just 15, for the 1994 Commonwealth Games as a 4 x 400 metres relay runner, though she did not eventually compete in the event.[5]
Her next international selection was for the 1996 World Junior Championships in Sydney, where she won a bronze medal as part of the Australian 4 x 400 metres relay team.
In 1998, Lewis moved up to the 800 metres distance, winning the National Championship and gaining a place in the 1998 Commonwealth Games team. Though she did not win a medal in the 800 m, she contributed to Australia's gold medal winning 4 x 400 m relay team.[5]
She next ran internationally in the 800 metres and 4 x 400 metres relay at the 1999 World Indoor Championships in Maebashi. Here she set an Australian indoor record of 2-02.42 in her individual event and again won a medal as part of Australia's 4 x 400 metres relay team.
Leading into the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Lewis enjoyed her best form, setting new personal best times for 400 and 800 metres in qualifying for the Australian team. At the Games, she was unlucky to miss out on making the Olympic final in the 800 metres, failing by less than one tenth of a second, but ran in Australia's 4 x 400 metres relay team which set two national records.
In the years after Sydney, Lewis could not improve her personal best performances and gained a reputation as an underachiever[6] in international competitions. Lewis gave away the 800 m in 2005 to focus on the one-lap event and develop her speed. She competed at the 2006 Commonwealth Games only in the 400 m, where she missed making the final, and in the 4 x 400 metres relay event, where she won her third successive gold medal amidst a major controversy, as part of the victorious Australian quartet.[5]
In 2007 Tamsyn made a return to the 800 m distance under new coach, and brother, Justin Lewis, winning the 800 m national championships, placing in several European Meetings and qualifying for the 2007 IAAF World Championships in Athletics. In Osaka she finished fourth in her heat in 2.01.21 and was again unable to make the final.[5]
Lewis enjoyed a return to her very best form in early 2008, remaining undefeated over 400 m and 800 metres in Australia.[7] She ran a personal best time of 51.44 to win the national 400 metres titles and comfortably retained her 800 metres crown.[7] These performances earned Tamsyn selection in a third consecutive Australian Olympic team.[2]
At the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships, held in Valencia, Spain, Lewis qualified for the final running an Australian record of 2-01.85 in her heat. In a tactical final, Lewis broke away from perennial champion Maria de Lurdes Mutola and Ukrainian Tetiana Petlyuk to win the gold medal in a major upset.[8] Lewis was shocked herself saying: "I was wondering what I was doing out there. Then I realised that I could win the race. This is amazing. I still can't believe it."[8]
Lewis represented Australia at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.[2] Here she made the semi final of the 800 m and narrowly missed qualifying for the semi final of the 400 m.
At the Australian National Championships in Brisbane 2009 Lewis won both the 400 m and the 400 m Hurdles. This took her career tally to 15 National Titles.[9]
Tamsyn has won a number of international medals in the 4 x 400 m relay[5]:
Lewis is also a three-time gold medal winner in the Commonwealth Games 4 x 400 m relay event.
Tamsyn commenced a media career with Melbourne radio station Triple M, as part of the 'Dead Set Legends' crew, in 2005.[11]
In 2006, she appeared on the popular Australian television series Dancing with the Stars. Partnered by Arsen Kishishian, Lewis finished third.[12]
With Jules Lund and Ryan Shelton, Lewis presented the Summer Fling breakfast show across the Austereo Today Network,[13] from December 2007.
In 2004, Lewis posed in bikinis for Ralph magazine, prompting criticism from the media for losing focus on her preparation for the Athens Olympics. Also, Tamsyn was voted the 'sexiest babe in Melbourne' award on local radio station Nova 100. When Tamsyn failed to progress past the heats of her individual event, the 800 metres, both Lewis and her coaches defended the photoshoot saying it was undertaken in five hours on one day and was not to blame for her result.[14]
In February 2006, Lewis and fellow Australian runner Jana Pittman were involved in a very public feud[15] after the Australian athletics trials for the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Pittman, in answer to a media question following her heat win, had stated she had "no competition" in Australia; Lewis responded "I was standing behind the blocks [for the final] going, 'I'll give you no competition, bitch.'" in a radio interview after she won the final with Pittman finishing last. The media later described their relationship as a "catfight" and a "bitchfight."[16]
In the 29 May 2006 edition of Australian "Zoo Weekly" magazine, Lewis again posed in what Nova 100 afternoon DJ's described as "incredibly racy" lingerie. In the accompanying article, Lewis went into detail about her relationship with Jana Pittman and the furore caused over comments by Pittman that the team should all return their medals.
In the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics she stated she would be running against drug cheats; "I have no doubts that when I line up next week, I will look left and right and know the other girls aren't all clean”.[17]
| Event | Time | Place | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 400 m | 51.42 | Brisbane, Australia | 20 March 2009 |
| 400m Hurdles | 56.27 | Brisbane, Australia | 21 March 2009 |
| 800 m | 1-59.21 | Canberra, Australia | 15 January 2000 |
| 800 m indoor | 2-01.85 | Valencia, Spain | 7 March 2008 |
| Year | 400 m | 800 m | 400m Hurdles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | - | 1 | - |
| 1999 | - | 1 | - |
| 2000 | - | 1 | - |
| 2001 | - | 1 | - |
| 2002 | - | 1 | - |
| 2003 | - | 1 | - |
| 2004 | - | 2 (1st Australian) | - |
| 2005 | 1 | - | - |
| 2006 | 2 (1st Australian) | - | - |
| 2007 | 1 | 1 | - |
| 2008 | 1 | 1 | - |
| 2009 | 1 | - | 1 |
| 2010 | 4 (3rd Australian) | - | 2 |
| 2011 | 1 | 1 | - |
| Year | 400 m | 800 m | 400m Hurdles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | 54.84 | - | - |
| 1994 | 52.90 | - | - |
| 1995 | 53.01 | - | - |
| 1996 | 53.34 | - | - |
| 1997 | - | - | - |
| 1998 | 52.60 | 2-01.71 | - |
| 1999 | 52.58 | 2-00.95 | - |
| 2000 | 51.51 | 1-59.21 | - |
| 2001 | 53.07 | 2-00.86 | - |
| 2002 | 52.21 | 1-59.73 | - |
| 2003 | 52.85 | 1-59.35 | - |
| 2004 | 53.72 | 2-00.96 | - |
| 2005 | 52.44 | 2-11.37 | - |
| 2006 | 52.36 | 2-06.52 | - |
| 2007 | 51.71 | 1-59.37 | - |
| 2008 | 51.44 | 1-59.43 | - |
| 2009 | 51.42 | - | 56.27 |
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