Sarah Louise Catherwood (for a time known as Sarah Jackson, born 23 May 1980) is an Olympic swimmer from New Zealand.

Swimming career

Catherwood started swimming aged eight and was a teen swimming sensation; as of 2011, one of her national age 13 records still stood. She was a member of Christchurch's AquaGym Swim Club alongside Anna Simcic. Catherwood was one of the 14 swimmers who represented New Zealand at the 1996 Summer Olympics in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, United States, and she competed at one event. Aged 16, she was the youngest New Zealand swimmer in Atlanta. Catherwood was in a team with Anna Wilson, Dionne Bainbridge, and Alison Fitch to compete in the 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay. They came fifth in their heat and did not qualify for the final; their overall placement was 11th out of 21 teams. Catherwood is New Zealand Olympian number 698. Catherwood retired after competing at the 2004 FINA World short course swimming championships in

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, USA. She improved her personal best time in

100 metres freestyle The 100 metre freestyle is often considered to be the highlight (Blue Ribbon event) of the sport of swimming, like 100 metres in the sport of Athletics, symbolizing the pinnacle of speed and athleticism in swimming competitions. The first swimm ...

by over half a second at those championships. In 2011 at age 30, Catherwood decided to try a comeback, with Olympic teammate Paul Kent as her trainer. At the time, she was based in

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; , colloquially known as Palmerston or Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatū Plains, the city is near the north bank of the Manaw ...

. She later pursued her swimming career as a member of Roskill Magic, a swimming club in the

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

suburb of

Mount Roskill Mount Roskill () is a suburban area in the city of Auckland, New Zealand. It is named for the volcanic peak Mount Roskill. Etymology The name Mount Roskill was first recorded as Mt Rascal in 1841, on a map created by a Wesleyan missionary, ...

Private life

Catherwood was born in 1980 in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, New Zealand. She moved to

in 2008 to study a veterinary degree at

Massey University Massey University () is a Public university, public research university in New Zealand that provides internal and distance education. The university has campuses in Auckland, Palmerston North, and Wellington. Data from Universities New Zealand ...

. After that, she moved to

. Outside of swimming, Catherwood's passion is horses.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Catherwood, Sarah Living people 1980 births Swimmers from Christchurch Olympic swimmers for New Zealand Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics