Tag: Swimming

Multiple world record holder and Morningside homeowner Cate Campbell once again earned her place in the country’s elite swimmers’ circle as she continues her decisive way to the Gold Coast Games.

Campbell heads south this April in her bid to collect five golds in her five swimming events — the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 50m butterfly, 4x100m freestyle relay, and 4x100m medal relay.

At age 25, the Morningside resident has already established her name in Australian swimming. A veteran Olympian, swimming fans also remember her as one of the two sisters who reportedly were the first ever sisters to have clocked podium finishes for the same individual event in either Olympic Games or World Championships.

Cate Campbell, and her sister, Olympic champ Bronte Campbell, have been together in the water since they were toddlers. Since then, they have trained together and as the Commonwealth Games near, hopes are high that they will have another podium finish together.

Side by side in success

The Campbell duo were born two years apart in Malawi, a country in southeastern Africa. They learned how to swim from their mother, who was a synchronized swimmer. According to their past mentors, their parents never pushed them into the sports. Rather, it was their love for swimming that led them to train.

The Campbell family moved to Australia in 2001. It was here that the sisters entered competitive swimming. Since then, the sisters have been reaping numerous awards from swimming competitions until their excellence inevitably led them to their winning streak in the international swimming arena.

Their winning streak began in Beijing 2008 when teenage Cate won the bronze in the 50m freestyle.

London 2012 saw the first Australian sisters compete in the same event at the same Olympics when the nation rooted for them in the 50m freestyle. Cate, with her relay team, won Australia’s only gold medal in that Olympics.

In the 2015 World Championships, the world saw the siblings share the same podium for an individual event for a worldwide sports event.

This time, it was Bronte’s turn in the spotlight. She won a double gold in the event for the 100m freestyle and 50m freestyle. She was joined by her sister on the podium when Cate won a bronze in the 100m freestyle. Cate also finished fourth in the 50m freestyle.

The sisters continued their winning streak in Rio 2016, where Cate broke the world record in 52.78 s in the 100m freestyle as early as the heat event. However, buckling under the weight of expectations to get the gold, she finished 6th, a bit behind her sister who finished 4th.

They made up for it in the relay, where the sisters and their team broke another world record with their relay team in the 4×100 freestyle relay in 3:30.65 s, adding another pair of gold medals to their medal tally.

Sibling rivalry

Being in constant competition with a sibling whilst the world is watching is certainly never easy. Cate and Bronte, however, takes sibling rivalry in a different light.

According to Cate, she hates losing, except when it is her sister who defeats her. Bronte shares the same perspective. She says that if someone beats her in a game, she would rather it be her sister. She even jokes how not normal it was to be the third best swimmer in the world but only the second best in the family.

In the upcoming Gold Coast 2018, each other’s presence would truly bring a positive effect on the sisters’ performance.

“Cate wouldn’t be as good without Bronte and Bronte wouldn’t be as good without Cate,” their coach Simon Cusack said.