Susie O’Neill

Dubbed ‘Madame Butterfly’ for her peerless quality in the discipline, Susie held a record for 35 Australian titles, 15 Commonwealth Games medals (10 gold), 18 long and short course World Championships medals and 8 Olympic medals in total.

Susie was unrivalled in her success, never coming home without a medal from any international competition, a stretch that lasted from 1990 to 2000.

As an 18-year-old, Susie won a bronze in the 200m butterfly at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, before rising to the top of the sport, winning the first of her two Olympic golds four years later in Atlanta.

At Commonwealth level, she was dominant. No other Australian won more medals in the pool, and Susie also holds the record for most medals won in a single Games with eight, six of which are gold, at the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games.

At her home Games at Sydney 2000, Susie won gold in the 200m freestyle and another three silver medals to equal the great Dawn Fraser’s Olympic medal tally of eight.

Following the 2000 Sydney Olympics, O’Neill retired from swimming and continued her career in the International Olympic Committee

In 2005, Susie resigned from the IOC to spend more time at home with her young family.

She then began her broadcasting career soon after, commentating at the 2006 Commonwealth Games for the ABC, and in 2016 she joined the Nova Brisbane Breakfast program, Ash, Kip, Luttsy & Susie.

At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games, Susie was named as a Deputy Chef de Mission.

Always a champion of the people, O’Neill is revered not only by her feats in the pool, but also her charity work, humility and down-to-earth nature.