Australian gold medallist swimmer Libby Trickett
Australian freestyle and butterfly champion Libby Trickett was born on the 28th January 1985 in Townsville Queensland Australia. She was part of the Australian team in the 2008 Summer Olympics and also has the honour of winning a gold medal at
the 2004 Summer Olympics, Athens. Libby also set a world record mark in the 100 metre freestyle (short-course) event.
Trickett made her debut international appearance in March 2003, when she participated in the Australian championships. In July the same year she was declared as one of the medal contenders at the 2003 World Championships that were held in Barcelona. Trickett
bagged her first international medal at this event. She won the bronze medal in the 50 metre freestyle meet. Meanwhile, she was the 5th place finisher in the 100 metre freestyle, 14th place finisher in the 50 metre and the 19th
place finisher in the 100 metre butterfly event. Trickett then went on to win a bronze medal in the 4 into 100 metre freestyle relay event, yet another one in the individual 100 metre freestyle.
The swimmer then set a world record in the 100 metre freestyle event during the 2004 Olympic swimming trials held in Sydney on 31st of March 2004. She finished the race in a world record time of 53.66 seconds. However, she soon lost this record
to her teammate Jodie Henry when she finished the semi-final meet of the same event in a time of 53.52 seconds at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
The year that followed, Trickett won the 50 metre freestyle event at the 2005 FINA World Championships that were held in Montreal Canada. She won the gold medal in the race in a time of 24.59 seconds. Being a strong medal contender, she then went on to clinch
the silver medal in the 100 metre butterfly. She was also a part of three relay teams at the Championships; 4 into 100 metre freestyle relay, 4 into 100 metre medley relay and then the 4 into 200 metre freestyle relay team. She won gold (3 minutes and 37.22
seconds), gold (3 minutes and 57.47 seconds) and silver (7 minutes and 54 seconds) respectively, in the aforementioned team events.
At the FINA World Championships, Trickett did not take part in the 100 metre freestyle events, since she had previously finished the event in the third spot at the Australian championship. Even though she did not contend the individual 100 metre and 200
metre freestyle events at the World Championships, she was ranked as the top swimmer of the year in the two meets.
The Australian swimming sensation regained the world record set by her in the 100 metre freestyle event on the 31st January 2006 at the Australian championships in Melbourne. However, she lost this record to the German swimmer Britta Steffen at
the 2006 European Championships in Budapest, Hungary. The German swimmer finished the race in 53.30 seconds, while the world record time set by Trickett was 53.42 seconds.
The world saw Trickett win the 50 metre and 100 metre freestyle events. She also contended and won the 4 into 100 metre and 4 into 100 metre freestyle relay team events. 5 of the 12 gold medals won by Australia in the 2006 Short Course World Championships
held in Shanghai were bagged by Trickett.
Trickett qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She made it to the final of the 4 into 100 metre freestyle and won the bronze medal in the event. 100 metre butterfly final was her second final event in which she won the gold medal.
Trickett then went on to contend the 2009 World Championships. She managed to bag the bronze medal in the 4 into 100 metre freestyle relay. She won another bronze medal on the 100 metre freestyle event and finished the 50 metre freestyle race in the fifth
place.
Trickett announced her retirement at the age of 24 in December 2009, however, she made a comeback in September 2010.
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