Cate Campbell

Cate Natalie Campbell, (born 20 May 1992) is a Malawian-born Australian competitive swimmer, and a current multiple world record holder, who won two bronze medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics, a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, a gold and a silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics and a gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She is the current world record holder in the Long Course 4 x 100 m Freestyle Relay with Team Australia and the short course 100 m freestyle. Campbell was one of the flagbearers for Australia at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics alongside basketball player Patty Mills.

She is coached by Simon Cusack at the Commercial Swimming Club.

Early life

Cate is the first of five children born to South African parents, Eric, an accountant, and Jenny, a nurse. She has four younger siblings (three sisters and one brother): Bronte, Jessica, Hamish, and Abigail. Her brother Hamish has severe cerebral palsy and requires around-the-clock care.

Jenny used to be a swimmer and taught her three daughters to swim, in the pool at the family's home. Cate also recalls swimming near Hippopotami in Lake Malawi as a small child. Lake Malawi is the second deepest lake in Africa. It was in this lake that her father, Eric, would go sailing on weekends. Campbell and her siblings were homeschooled as children. Her mother also frequently read the Bible to her, while she was growing up. The Campbells lived in a big house, with no TV. They had many pets, including turkeys, guinea pigs, dogs, cats, and chickens. Campbell describes every morning like "an Easter egg hunt; the chickens would lay eggs all around the house."

During her schooling, Campbell states she could not sing or dance, but swimming was something in which she excelled. She also stated she received top marks for public speaking at school. Aside from those, she claims she was an "average student".

The Campbells moved from Malawi to Australia in 2001 and it was soon after this that Campbell took up competitive swimming. She completed her secondary school studies at Kenmore State High School in Brisbane, Queensland. Her sister Bronte is also an Olympic swimmer and the pair competed in the same event at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

In 2007, she went to the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney and won two gold medals in the 50 metre individual freestyle and 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay. She followed this up in 2008 with a victory in the 50 metre freestyle at the Japan Open, beating compatriot Libby Trickett and setting new Australian and Commonwealth records with her time of 24.48 seconds.

Career

2008 Olympics

Cate was the fastest qualifier into the 50 metre freestyle semi-finals, after recording a time of 24.20 seconds. This placed her in Lane 4 in the semi-finals against the world record holder Libby Trickett. In the second semi-final Cate placed second in a time of 24.42 seconds, placing her in Lane 5 for the final. In the final, she placed third in a time of 24.17. She also won bronze as part of Australia's women's 4 x 100 metre freestyle relay team.

2009 World Championship

Despite doing a time trial of 53.40 seconds, with her 100-metre performance of 56.39 from 5 months earlier in March and having hip problems, she was scratched from the women's 4 × 100 metre freestyle. However, she still earned the right to swim the 50 metre freestyle from her runner-up swim at the world championships trials. In Rome she finished with a bronze, beating compatriot Libby Trickett and ending 0.02 of a second off the Commonwealth Record.

2012 Olympics

In 2010, Cate and her sister Bronte caught glandular fever; they worked against post-viral fatigue as they trained to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Cate Campbell was a member of the Australian team that won the gold medal in the 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay at the Games. Before the individual 50 metre event, she contracted acute pancreatitis. In the women's 50 metre freestyle she and Bronte swam in the same heat, finishing third and second respectively, and qualifying for the semi-final in tenth and ninth place respectively.

2013

At the 2013 Australian Swimming Championships she won gold in both the 50 and 100 metre freestyle events, qualifying for the 2013 World Aquatics Championships

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