Libby Trickett: Australia’s record breaking swimmer
Australian swimmer Libby Trickett is a world record holder and Olympic gold medalist. She is considered to be one of the top Australian female swimmers with a tremendous amount of skill and technique. Trickett’s swimming career has brought her great recognition
and respects among the world’s top athletes. Her career is filled with many awards and accolades, worthy of her competitive spirit.
Trickett emerged at the world level on March 2003 at the Australian Swimming Championships. With an impressive performance and hard work she became a strong medal contender in multiple events at the 2003 Barcelona World Championships.
The Australian has won four bronze medals in the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 4*100m freestyle relay and the 4*100m medley relay. She finished 14th and 19th in the 50m butterfly and the 100m butterfly events at these championships.
She heightened her performance at the 2004 Indianapolis World Championships, as she smashed her first gold medal in the 100m freestyle, followed by a second gold medal in 4*100m medley relay team. Trickett also scored two silver medals in the 50m freestyle
and 4*200m freestyle relay and two bronze medals in the 50m butterfly and 4*100m freestyle relay events.
During the same year at the Athens Olympics, she won a gold medal in the 4*100m freestyle being a part of Australian relay team and a silver medal in the 50m freestyle.
Trickett continued her tremendous performance, as she successfully grabbed three gold medals in the 50m freestyle, 4*200m freestyle relay and 4 *100m medley relay and two silver medals in the 100m butterfly and 4*200m freestyle relay at the 2005 Montreal
World Championships.
The Australian won a large number of medals in 2006. First, participating at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games where she won five gold medals and two silver medals. She won her gold medals in the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 4*100m freestyle relay,
4*200m freestyle relay and the 4*100m medley relay events. Her silver medals were in the 200m freestyle and the 100m butterfly. Trickett made a world record in the 100m freestyle with a timing of 53.42.
Then in the 2006 Shanghai World Championships, she again won five gold medals and a silver medal in a single championship. Her gold medals comprises of her victories in the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 4*200m freestyle, and 4*100m medley
relay whereas she grabbed a silver medal being a part of the 4*100m freestyle relay team.
She achieved five gold medals once again, while participating in the 2007 Melbourne World Championships. Trickett won gold medals in the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 4*100m freestyle relay and the 4*200m freestyle relay.
During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she won 2 gold medals in the 100m butterfly and 4*100m medley relay where she lowered the Australian record for the 100m butterfly with a timing of 56.63. She also won a silver medal in the 100m freestyle and a bronze medal
being a part of the Australian 4*100m freestyle relay team.
In 2009, she managed to secure a spot in the Australian relay team for 4*100m medley relay, which successfully won a silver medal at the Rome World Championships.
Trickett is currently the world record holder in the short course 25m for 100m freestyle. On 14
December 2009, at the age of 24, she announced her retirement from swimming due to some personal reasons but she announced her come-back to competitive swimming in September 2010.
She aims to represent Australia at the 2012 London Olympics. It will be interesting to see if she is selected and is able to perform with the same brilliance as before.
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