Shane Gould

About Shane Gould

Shane Elizabeth Gould, MBE (born 23 November 1956) is an Australian former competition swimmer who won three gold medals, a silver medal and a bronze at the 1972 Summer Olympics.

Summer Olympics:

At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Gould won three gold medals, setting a world record in each race. She also won a bronze and a silver medal.

She is the only person, male or female, to hold every world freestyle record from 100 metres to 1500 metres and the 200-metre individual medley world record simultaneously, which she did from 12 December 1971 to 1 September 1972. She is the first female swimmer ever to win three Olympic gold medals in world record time, and the first swimmer, male or female, to win Olympic medals in five individual events in a single Olympics.

Shane Gould Achievements

Publications:

Gould, S. 1999, updated 2003. Tumble Turns. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780732277673 (autobiography)

Gould, S. 2004. Fit for 50+. Ibis Publishing Australia.

Gould, S. 2007. Appreciating swimming: beauty and instruction with underwater swimmer photographs. Visual Communication 6: 170-179. doi:10.1177/1470357207077180

Honours and awards:

Best Sportswoman in the World (1971)

ABC Sportswoman of the Year (1971)

ABC Sportswoman of the Year (1972)

Australian of the Year (1972)

International Swimming Hall of Fame "Honor Swimmer" (1977)

Member of the Order of the British Empire (1981)

Sport Australia Hall of Fame (1985)

Olympic Order (1994)

Legend of Australian Sport (1995)

Australian Sports Medal (2000)

Centenary Medal (2001)

Olympic Torch bearer at opening ceremony of 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. She carried the Olympic Torch at the stadium, as one of the runners for the final segment, before the lighting of the Olympic Flame.

In 1993, the State Transit Authority named a RiverCat ferry after Gould.