Tracey Lee Wickham (born 24 November 1962 in

Rosebud, Victoria Rosebud is a seaside suburb on the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, approximately south of Melbourne's Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District, located within the Shire of Mornington Penins ...

) is an Australian former middle distance

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

. Wickham was the World Champion for the 400 m and 800 m freestyle in 1978, and won gold in both events at the 1978 and 1982 Commonwealth Games. She is a former world record holder for the 400 m, 800 m and 1500 m freestyle. Despite her success in the pool, Wickham has battled hardship and personal tragedy throughout her life.

Swimming career

Wickham began swimming at the age of eight at John Rigby's pool in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

and mastered her technique under the guidance of Peter Diamond. At the age of thirteen, she was selected to be on the Australian team for the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games but failed to reach the finals at that meet. In 1977, Wickham's family moved to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, where she trained for six months with coaching legend Mark Schubert. She returned to Brisbane at the end of 1977 and she came under the guidance of coach Bill Sweetenham at the

Commercial Swimming Club Commercial Swimming Club is a swimming club that is based at the Fortitude Valley Pool in centre of Brisbane, Queensland. Club members have represented the country at the Olympic Games, FINA World Aquatics Championships and Commonwealth Games. ...

. On 8 February 1978, Wickham broke her first world record, the 1500 m freestyle, in a solo swim at the Fortitude Valley Pool in Brisbane, clocking 16:14.93. At the

1978 Commonwealth Games The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from 3 to 12 August, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics was held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with a ...

Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, Canada, Wickham won both the 400 m and 800 m

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott Laboritories Media * '' FreeStyle'', ...

. That same year, she set world records in both events, and won both the 400 m and 800 m freestyle at the 1978 Berlin World Championships, setting a world 400 m record of 4.06.28, which stood as the Championship record until 2007. Both world records stood until 1987, long after her retirement. In 1980, Australia decided against an official

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...

of the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

. A number of Australian athletes elected to boycott the Games personally. Wickham maintains that she withdrew from the team because of illness, as she was suffering glandular fever at the time, not because of the boycott. The 800 m freestyle was won by fellow Australian

Michelle Ford Michelle Jan Ford (born 15 July 1962) is an Australian former long-distance freestyle and butterfly swimmer of the 1970s and 1980s, who won a gold medal in the 800-metre freestyle, bronze in the 200-metre butterfly, and 4th in the 400-metres ...

at that meet. Wickham retired at the end of 1979 due to financial problems. The policy of

amateurism An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, self-taught, user-generated, DIY, and hobbyist. History H ...

was upheld by the Amateur Swimming Union of Australia during this period, meaning Wickham could neither earn money from the sport nor receive any prizes. Wickham returned to swimming in the early 1980s under coach

Laurie Lawrence Laurie Joseph Lawrence (born 14 October 1941) is an Australian swimming coach. He was also an Australia national rugby union team member in 1964. Early life Lawrence was born in the Queensland city of Townsville, where his father, Alan 'Stumpy' ...

. She won gold in the 400 m and 800 m freestyle at the

1982 Commonwealth Games The 1982 Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane, Australia, from 30 September to 9 October 1982. The Opening Ceremony was held at the QEII Stadium (named after Elizabeth II), in the Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The QEII Stadium was also the ...

, where she took the Athletes Oath at the Opening Ceremony. Her gold medal for the 400 m was presented to her by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

and Wickham retired from swimming immediately afterwards. Wickham returned to competitive swimming again in May 1990, following the birth of her daughter, with Lawrence again as her coach. That year she was first woman in the 7.6 km open water race from Magnetic Island to Townsville. She also won the female division of the

Lake Trasimeno Lake Trasimeno ( , also ; ; ; ), also referred to as Trasimene ( ), Trasimeno Lake, or Thrasimene in English, is a lake in the province of Perugia, in the Umbria region of Italy on the border with Tuscany. The lake has a surface area of , m ...

20 km marathon race. She retired for good following the birth of her son in January 1992.

Personal life

She was educated at the

All Hallows' School All Hallows' School (AHS) is a Catholicism, Catholic day school for girls, located in Fortitude Valley, close to the central business district of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1861, the school is a day school, having had a board ...

, in

along with her sisters Julie and Kelly. Wickham married in 1986 and had two children, Daniel and Hannah. She divorced her husband in the mid-1990s. Her daughter, Hannah, died at the age of nineteen from

synovial sarcoma A synovial sarcoma (also known as malignant synovioma) is a rare form of cancer which occurs primarily in the extremities of the arms or legs, often in proximity to joint capsules and tendon sheaths. It is a type of soft-tissue sarcoma. The name ...

on 2 October 2007. Wickham is an ambassador for Hannah's Chance Foundation, which supports teenage cancer victims.

Honours and awards

On 30 December 1978, Wickham was made a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

. On 10 December 1985, she was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the

International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the stu ...

at Fort Lauderdale in 1992. On 25 October 2000, she was awarded the

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 outstanding contribution as a competitor in swimming. On 13 June 2005, she was awarded the

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 service to Australian swimming and to the development of young swimmers through teaching and coaching roles.

Swimming achievements

* 1976 Montreal Olympic Games **Team member * 1978 Edmonton Commonwealth Games **400 metres freestyle - gold medal **800 metres freestyle - gold medal **200 metres freestyle - silver medal **4 x 100-metre medley relay (butterfly leg) - silver medal **4 x 100-metre freestyle relay - bronze medal * 1978 Berlin World Championships **400 metres freestyle - gold medal **800 metres freestyle - gold medal * 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games **400 metres freestyle - gold medal **800 metres freestyle - gold medal **200 metres freestyle - silver medal *1990 Magnetic Island to Townsville Swim **First place *1990 Italian Gran Fondo Marathon Lake Swim **First place

Book

* Tracey Wickham's biography ''Treading Water: My Life in And Out of the Pool'' by Peter Meares was published by

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

Australia October 2010.

References

External links