Tracey Nicole Cross, OAM (born 4 December 1972) is an Australian visually impaired swimmer. She won ten medals at three Paralympics, from 1992 to 2000.

Personal

Cross was born in the Western Australian city of Bunbury on 4 December 1972. She has been blind since birth; in a 2000 interview, she said that the light perception that she had in one eye was "almost useless". She was left out of sporting activities at school, and started swimming at the age of 15. She took the sport casually at first, but took it more seriously when she found that she had a natural aptitude for swimming. In 1994, she obtained a law degree from

Murdoch University Murdoch University is a public university in Perth, Western Australia, with campuses also in Singapore and Dubai. It began operations as the state's second university on 25 July 1973, and accepted its first undergraduate students in 1975. Its ...

. After working in that field for some years, she became a massage therapist; she works in a natural health clinic in West Perth. Cross developed her passion for massage after she sustained a neck and shoulder injury while training for the 2000 Sydney Paralympics.

Swimming career

221000 - Swimming Tracey Cross action - 3b - 2000 Sydney event photo

Cross won her first international gold medal in the women's 400 m Freestyle B1 at the 1990 World Championships and Games for the Disabled in

Assen Assen () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands, and is the capital (politics), capital of the province of Drenthe. It received City rights in ...

, Netherlands. At the 1992 Barcelona Games, she won two gold medals in the Women's 100 m Freestyle B1 and Women's 400 m Freestyle B1 events, and two silver medals in the Women's 100 m Backstroke B1 and Women's 200 m Medley B1 events; she also came fourth in both the Women's 100 m Butterfly B1 and Women's 50 m Freestyle B1 events. She won two gold medals at the 1996 Atlanta Games in the Women's 100 m Butterfly B1 and the Women's 200 m Medley B1 events, and a silver medal in the Women's 50 m Freestyle B1 event; she also came fifth in the Women's 100 m Backstroke B1 event and came seventh in the heats of the Women's 400 m Freestyle B2 event. She spoke the Paralympic oath at the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Paralympics. In the competition, she received two silver medals in the Women's 100 m Freestyle S11 and the Women's 400 m Freestyle S11 events, and a bronze medal in the Women's 50 m Freestyle S11 event; she also came fifth in the Women's 200 m Medley SM11 event and eighth in the Women's 100 m Backstroke S11 event.

Recognition

In 1993, Cross received a

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...

for her 1992 Paralympic gold medals. In that year, she also received the Western Australian Citizen of the Year Award in the Youth category. On 14 November 2000, she received an

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, off ...

"For Service to Sport as a gold Medallist at the Paralympic Games". She received a

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

on 1 January 2001 "For service to the community through Paralympic swimming". In 2009, she was inducted into the Swimming Western Australia Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cross, Tracey Female Paralympic swimmers for Australia Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Paralympic bronze medalists for Australia Paralympic medalists in swimming S11-classified para swimmers Medalists at the World Para Swimming Championships Australian female freestyle swimmers Australian female medley swimmers Australian female backstroke swimmers Australian female butterfly swimmers Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Sportspeople from Bunbury, Western Australia Sportswomen from Western Australia Murdoch University alumni Paralympic swimmers with a vision impairment Australian blind people 1972 births Living people