Johanna Leigh Griggs (born 17 October 1973) is an Australian television presenter and former competitive swimmer. She won a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

at the

1990 Commonwealth Games The 1990 Commonwealth Games () were held in Auckland, New Zealand from 24 January – 3 February 1990. It was the 14th Commonwealth Games, and part of New Zealand's 1990 sesquicentennial celebrations. Participants competed in ten sports: at ...

. Griggs has been at the

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

since 1993 where she joined

Seven Sport Seven Sport is the brand and production department under which all sporting events on the Australian Seven Network#Sport, Seven Network are broadcast. It broadcasts some of Australia's most prominent sporting events, such as the Australian Foot ...

, first as a host at the

Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

. She hosts the network's Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and the Australian Open, as well as being a presenter of their

Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is an annual Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia, at the Flemington Racecourse. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and older, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club that forms part of the ...

coverage. She has been the host of '' Better Homes and Gardens'' since 2005 and ''

House Rules House rules are unofficial modifications to official game rules adopted by individual groups of players. House rules may include the removal or alteration of existing rules, or the addition of new rules. Such modifications are common in board ga ...

'' from 2013 until 2019.

Commonwealth Games – swimming career

Griggs represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

at the Auckland Commonwealth Games in 1990—winning a bronze medal in the 100m backstroke event. Her career was cut short after a battle with

chronic fatigue syndrome Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a disabling Chronic condition, chronic illness. People with ME/CFS experience profound fatigue that does not go away with rest, as well as sleep issues and problems with memory ...

that began when she was 17. She had previously attempted a comeback in 1992; however, the exertion of that comeback attempt had hospitalised her with

pleurisy Pleurisy, also known as pleuritis, is inflammation of the membranes that surround the lungs and line the chest cavity (Pulmonary pleurae, pleurae). This can result in a sharp chest pain while breathing. Occasionally the pain may be a constant d ...

, and it ultimately caused her to withdraw from the 1992 Olympic trials. Nevertheless, she was able to successfully make a comeback in 1993 for the 50-metre backstroke race at the

Australian Swimming Championships The Australian Swimming Championships is the national Swimming (sport), Swimming championships for Australia. They are organised by Swimming Australia and separate championships are held annually in both long course (50m) and Short course (swimmin ...

in 1993, where Griggs recorded the fastest time in the world (that year) for the event. The day following that swim, she announced her retirement from competitive swimming.

Television career

Griggs was the first guest on the long-running ABC programme ''

Live and Sweaty ''Live and Sweaty'' was an Australian sports television program, broadcast on the ABC from 1991 until 1994. Hosted by Andrew Denton (and later Elle McFeast), the show was part panel-based, part talk show and part comedy, and predated '' The Footy ...

''. As part of the programme, sporting guests were asked to donate various body parts to the "Sporting Hall of Fame". Griggs donated her appendix. She appeared as a Swedish tourist in an episode of ''

Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a trip to Kangaroo Point, N ...

'' in 1992. Griggs built a solid career in media, and in the late 1990s was a regular panelist on the

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...

program ''

Beauty and the Beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...

''. At this time she was also dating rugby league footballer

Luke Ricketson Luke Ricketson (born 5 February 1973) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. An Australian national rugby league team, Australian and Ireland national rugby league team, Ireland internati ...

. She later joined the

. Griggs hosted Australia's longest-running sports program, ''

Sportsworld ''Sportsworld'' (also known as ''NBC SportsWorld'') is an American sports anthology television program which aired on NBC on Saturday afternoons from 1978 to 1994. Format The program presented a wide variety of lower-profile and offbeat sporting ...

'', with Matthew White on Sunday mornings from 2001 to 2006. Griggs hosted several seasons of lifestyle type shows, including '' Auction Squad'' and ''House Calls to the Rescue''. She participated in the

coverage, and she was the first Australian woman to solely host an Olympics coverage when she covered the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

. In 2005, she replaced

Noni Hazlehurst Leonie Elva "Noni" Hazlehurst is an Australian actress, director, writer, presenter, and broadcaster who has appeared on television and radio, in dramas, mini-series, and made for television films, as well also on stage and in feature films ...

as the primary host of the long-running lifestyle program '' Better Homes and Gardens''. In 2009, after previously acting as a fill-in presenter for '' Seven News Sydney'' weekend sports bulletin, she took on the role full-time, replacing Alex Cullen, who moved to the weeknight role. In November 2010, Griggs resigned from ''Seven News'' to spend more time with her family. Griggs covers several sporting events for

. Griggs was critical of organisers of the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

when the competitors were not included in the closing ceremony.

Personal life

Griggs grew up in the Sydney suburb of Harbord which is now known as

Freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

. She was previously married to actor

Gary Sweet Gary Sweet (born 22 May 1957) is an Australian film and television actor known for his roles in ''Alexandra's Project'' (as Steve), ''Police Rescue'' (as Sergeant "Mickey" McClintock), ''Cody (TV series), Cody'' (as Cody), ''Big Sky (Australian ...

, with whom she had two sons. On 25 November 2006, Griggs married building foreman Todd Huggins in a private ceremony at their home in

Collaroy Plateau Collaroy Plateau is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Collaroy Plateau is 22 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area o ...

, Sydney. In September 2009, Griggs was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters from

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a Public university, public research university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the Sydney metropolitan area. ...

, Sydney. She was appointed a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

in the

2020 Australia Day Honours The 2020 Australia Day Honours are appointments to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 2020 by the Governor General of Australia, David Hurley. The Australi ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Griggs, Johanna 1973 births Living people People with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome Australian female backstroke swimmers Australian television presenters Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in swimming Swimmers at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Australian women television presenters Members of the Order of Australia Medallists at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Swimmers from Sydney Television personalities from Sydney Sportswomen from New South Wales