Shane Gould  (1956-)

A world swimming champion at 15 in distance and sprint racing.

Early Life

As a young child, Shane lived in Fiji, where her father worked as an airport manager. She could do doggy paddle, and swim under water by the age of three. By the time she was five she had learnt how to snorkel. At her primary school (in Fiji) she was the junior swimming champion. The family moved to Australia to live in Brisbane and then Sydney. Shane won her first medal when she was nine. She won silver in the girls ten and under breaststroke at the New South Wales Swimming Championships

Career Achievements

In 1971 Shane broke seven world records in both short and long distance swimming. Also in 1971 she was named the Best Sports Women in the World. The Sydney school girl was only fifteen when she went to the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. She flew down the pool winning three gold, one silver and one bronze medal.  She set the world freestyle record over 100 metres, completing the distance in 58.5 seconds. She also won the 200, 400 and 1500 metre events and held every freestyle swimming record for women. She was the first woman to win three individual gold medals in swimming events at an Olympics and each was won in world record time. Shane was the most successful Australian athlete -male or female- in Australia's Olympic history. She was inducted into the International Swimming hall of Fame in 1977.

Shane Gould retired from swimming at the age of 17.

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