Petria Thomas

Petria Thomas

Personal information
Full name	Petria Ann Thomas
Nationality	Australia
Born	(1975-08-25) 25 August 1975 Lismore, New South Wales
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Medal record Women's swimming Representing  Australia Olympic Games Gold Athens 2004 100 m butterfly Gold Athens 2004 4x100 m freestyle Gold Athens 2004 4x100 m medley Silver Atlanta 1996 200 m butterfly Silver Sydney 2000 4x100 m medley Silver Sydney 2000 4x200 m freestyle Silver Athens 2004 200 m butterfly Bronze Sydney 2000 200 m butterfly World Championships (LC) Gold 2001 Fukuoka 100 m butterfly Gold 2001 Fukuoka 200 m butterfly Gold 2001 Fukuoka 4 x 100 m medley Silver 1998 Perth 200 m butterfly Silver 1998 Perth 4 x 100 m medley Bronze 1998 Perth 100 m butterfly Bronze 1998 Perth 4 x 200 m freestyle World Championships (SC) Gold 2002 Moscow 200 m butterfly Silver 1993 Majorca 4 x 100 m medley Silver 1999 Hong Kong 200 m butterfly Silver 1999 Hong Kong 4 x 100 m medley relay Silver 2002 Moscow 50 m butterfly Silver 2002 Moscow 100 m butterfly Silver 2002 Moscow 4 x 100 m freestyle Bronze 1993 Mallorca 200 m butterfly Bronze 2002 Moscow 4 x 200 m freestyle Commonwealth Games Gold 1994 Victoria 100 m butterfly Gold 1994 Victoria 4x100 m medley Gold 1998 Kuala Lumpur 100 m butterfly Gold 1998 Kuala Lumpur 4x100 m medley Gold 2002 Manchester 50 m butterfly Gold 2002 Manchester 100 m butterfly Gold 2002 Manchester 200 m butterfly Gold 2002 Manchester 4x100 m freestyle Gold 2002 Manchester 4x100 m medley Silver 1998 Kuala Lumpur 200 m butterfly Silver 2002 Manchester 4x200 m freestyle Bronze 2002 Manchester 200 m freestyle Pan Pacific Championships Gold 2002 Yokohama 200 m butterfly Gold 2002 Yokohama 4x100 m freestyle Gold 2002 Yokohama 4x100 m medley Silver 2002 Yokohama 100 m butterfly Silver 2002 Yokohama 4x200 m freestyle

Petria Ann Thomas OAM (born 25 August 1975) is an Australian swimmer and Olympic gold medallist and a winner of 15 national titles. She was born in Lismore, New South Wales and grew up in the nearby town of Mullumbimby.

Career

In 1994, at the age of 17, Thomas won a bronze medal in the 200 m butterfly at the World Championships. She followed this with two gold medals, in the 100 m butterfly and 4x100 m freestyle in the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada. However, she then struggled for two years, until making a comeback at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. She won a silver medal, finishing second to fellow Australian Susie O'Neill.

Despite being plagued by a shoulder injury, Thomas repeated her 1994 Commonwealth Games effort at the 1998 Games in Kuala Lumpur. She also won a bronze in the 100 m butterfly and a silver in the 200 m at the World Championships in Perth, the same year. She had similar success at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, winning three medals - bronze in the 200 m butterfly, silver in the 4x100 m medley, and silver in the 4x200 m freestyle.

Thomas had always struggled to surpass O'Neill, despite being talented in her own right. However, after the 2000 games, O'Neill retired, and Thomas, despite battling recurring injuries, decided to continue. The decision paid off when she won three gold medals at the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. She won both the 100 m and 200 m butterfly, and then was part of the winning 4x100 medley relay team. She was also part of the 4x200 m freestyle relay team, which completed the race first, but they were disqualified when Thomas jumped in the pool to celebrate before the other competitors had completed the race.

At the 2002 Commonwealth Games, Thomas won five gold, one silver and one bronze medals. While being one of the pinnacles of her career, her victory also made her the first female swimmer ever to win the same event at three consecutive Commonwealth Games - the 100 m butterfly. She followed this with three gold and two silver medals at the 2002 Pan Pacific Games in Yokohama, Japan. At the short-course championships in Moscow, Russia, Thomas managed to win another gold medal in her pet event, the 200 m butterfly. However, injuries forced her out of competition soon afterwards, and she had to spend much of 2003 recovering from yet another shoulder reconstruction.

In 2004, Thomas made another comeback at the Olympic selection trials in Sydney while training with the Ginninderra Swimming Club. She broke the Commonwealth records in the 50 m and 100 m butterfly, set new personal best times in the 100 m freestyle, 200 m freestyle and narrowly missed the world record in the 200 m butterfly.

After having missed out on first place in 1996 and 2000, Thomas finally managed to achieve gold at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. She won the individual 100 m butterfly, and was a part of two world record setting teams in the 4x100 m freestyle and 4x100 m medley relays. She was subsequently chosen to carry the Australian flag at the closing ceremony. Thomas announced her retirement from competitive swimming at the conclusion of the games.

In mid-2005, Thomas released an autobiography, Swimming Against The Tide, in which she describes her career, including her experiences with depression and injuries.

Thomas was inducted into the Australian Institute of Sport Swimming Hall of Fame in 1996, and was crowned the AIS Athlete of the Year in 2001 (with gymnast Philippe Rizzo) and 2002 and in 2006 inducted in the AIS 'Best of the Best'. She was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2007.^[1]

She currently resides in Amaroo, Canberra, with her husband, Julian Jones, the head strength and conditioning coach at the AIS. They have two children; Aiden born in 2006 and Zara born in 2009.

References

External links

• Petria Thomas at the Internet Movie Database

Awards
Preceded by Susie O'Neill	World Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year 2001 – 2002	Succeeded by Leisel Jones