Simon John Fairweather, OAM (born 9 October 1969) is an

archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In modern ...

born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, South Australia. He is tall and weighs . Fairweather won the individual

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

at the World Championships in Poland in 1991. Fairweather was declared the

Young Australian of the Year The Australian of the Year is a national award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Government-owned social enterprise. Similar awards are also conferred at the state and territor ...

in 1991. After an early Olympic career in which he was generally considered not to have lived up to his promise, Fairweather shot back into Australia's national consciousness, "stopping the nation" with his gold-medal performance in men's individual archery at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

. He was also a member of the Australian team which finished twelfth in the team competition. Simon went to 5 Olympic Games:

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

. He has won countless Australia titles over a 20-year period. In 1997, Fairweather gained a degree in jewellery design from the

University of South Australia The University of South Australia is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1991, it is the successor of the former South Australian Institute of Technology. Its main campuses along North Terrace are ...

. In 2002, Fairweather was inducted into the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

Best of the Best. Fairweather was inducted into the

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Don Bradman, Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and ...

in 2009. On 1 February 2009,

Archery Australia Archery Australia (AA) is the governing body for the sport of archery in Australia. History The body was founded in Sydney on 17–18 January 1948 as the Archery Association of Australia. In 1993, the body took its current name of Archery Aus ...

announced the appointment of Fairweather as National Head Coach of Archery in Australia. Fairweather was married to former

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the ...

world champion

Jackie Fairweather Jacquilyn Louise "Jackie" Fairweather (née Gallagher; 10 November 1967 1 November 2014) was an Australian world champion triathlete, long-distance runner, coach and Australian Institute of Sport high-performance administrator. Personal life ...

(née Gallagher) from 2004 until her death on 2 November 2014.

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* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fairweather, Simon 1969 births Living people Australian male archers Olympic archers for Australia Archers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Archers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Archers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Archers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Archers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Australia Sportspeople from Adelaide Olympic medalists in archery Australian Institute of Sport archers Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics World Archery Championships medalists Sportsmen from South Australia 20th-century Australian sportsmen