Lisa Gaye Curry AO MBE (born 15 May 1962), also known by her married name Lisa Curry-Kenny, is an Australian former competition swimmer. Curry won seven gold, two silver and one bronze Commonwealth Games medals, and is the only Australian swimmer to have held Commonwealth and Australian records in every stroke except backstroke. Curry was the chair of the

National Australia Day Council The National Australia Day Council (NADC) is a non-profit social enterprise owned by the Australian Government and is the national coordinating body for the Australian of the Year awards and Australia Day. It was established in 1979 and inc ...

from 2000 to 2008.

Swimming career

Curry's swimming ability was noticed at a young age and by the age of 12 was one of the fastest swimmers of her age in the world. She was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder, and won 15 national long course open titles. From 1977 to 1992, Curry represented Australia 16 times. She competed in the 1980,

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

and 1992 Olympics; the 1978 and 1982

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

; and the 1978, 1982 and 1990 Commonwealth Games. Curry won seven gold medals, two silver medals, and a bronze medal across three Commonwealth Games: a silver medal in the 4×100-metre medley relay at Edmonton in 1978; three gold medals (100-metre butterfly, 200- and 400-metre individual medley) and a bronze (100-metre freestyle) at Brisbane in 1982; and four gold medals (100-metre butterfly, 50-metre freestyle, 4×100-metre freestyle relay, 4×100-metre medley relay) and one silver (100-metre freestyle) at Auckland in 1990. After retiring from swimming, she competed in surf boat rowing competitions and outrigger canoe events, and her team won the World Championship Outrigger Canoe event in 1997.

Honours

On 31 December 1982, Curry was named a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

"in recognition of service to the sport of swimming". She was inducted into the

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and Dawn Fraser th ...

in 1985. At the 1994 Australia Day Honours, Curry was awarded the

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an 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 the Australian Gove ...

"in recognition of service to the sport of swimming". On 14 July 2000, Curry 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, offi ...

for "her significant contribution as a competitor in swimming". On 1 January 2001, Curry was awarded the Centenary Medal for "service to Australian society through swimming and the National Australia Day Council". At the 2008 Australia Day Honours, Curry was named as an Officer of the Order of Australia "for service to the community through encouraging national pride and identity, particularly through leadership of the National Australia Day Council." In 2009 Curry was inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame.

Television

In 2011, Curry appeared as a celebrity contestant on the first season of Nine Network's Australian reality series ''

The Celebrity Apprentice Australia ''The Celebrity Apprentice Australia'' is an Australian reality television series which aired on the Nine Network. Based on NBC's ''The Apprentice'', it first aired on 24 October 2011 and originally featured Mark Bouris, the founder and chairm ...

''. Curry was fired in the 6th task. She appeared in advertising campaigns for cruise liner

P&O Cruises Australia P&O Cruises Australia is a British-American owned cruise line with operational headquarters as part of Carnival Australia, based in Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia. Originally a sister company of P&O Cruises in the United Kingdom, it was ...

and

Uncle Tobys Uncle Tobys is an Australian food manufacturing company which specialises in breakfast oat products. Since its foundation in 1861, the company has expanded its product range across the cereal and ready-to-eat snack market. Uncle Tobys is currentl ...

. In January 2017, Curry was revealed as a celebrity contestant on the third season of Network Ten's Australian reality series '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!''. On 8 March 2017, Curry was the 9th celebrity eliminated from the series after 41 days in the jungle coming in 6th place. Curry was the subject of the episode of '' Who Do You Think You Are?'' aired on 9 June 2020. Lisa was the subject of an episode of Australian Story, on the ABC, called The Deep End, which aired in June 2022. In 2022, Curry appeared on the fourth season of The Masked Singer Australia as Caterpillar and was the second contestant to be revealed.

Business interests

Curry and former husband Grant Kenny co-own the Curry Kenny Aviation Group, which in 2009 owned approximately 60 aircraft. Curry has a partnership with Naturopath Jeff Butterworth in the company Happy Healthy YOU, featuring the products Happy Hormones, Happy Greens and Happy Turmeric. Happy Healthy You was launched in Australia in 2015 and has grown into resource for women dealing with hormonal conditions with over 65,000 women following Lisa's advice and taking the health supplements.

Personal life

Curry was married to Grant Kenny, former ironman surf lifesaver and Olympic bronze medallist, in 1986. Curry and Kenny separated in May 2009. They had three children together; Jaimi Lee, Morgan and Jett. Daughter Jaimi Lee Kenny died on 14 September 2020 at age 33, following a long illness. In 2008 Curry had a

heart surgery Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to corr ...

operation to implant a

defibrillator Defibrillation is a treatment for life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, specifically ventricular fibrillation (V-Fib) and non-perfusing ventricular tachycardia (V-Tach). A defibrillator delivers a dose of electric current (often called a ''coun ...

after being found to have an irregular heartbeat as a consequence of a

viral infection A viral disease (or viral infection) occurs when an organism's body is invaded by pathogenic viruses, and infectious virus particles (virions) attach to and enter susceptible cells. Structural Characteristics Basic structural characteristics, ...

. In October 2016, Curry announced her engagement to entertainer Mark Andrew Tabone. They married in May 2018.

References

External links

Lisa Curry on Australian Olympics site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Curry, Lisa 1962 births Living people Swimmers from Brisbane Australian female butterfly swimmers Australian female medley swimmers Australian female freestyle swimmers Australian Institute of Sport swimmers Olympic swimmers of Australia Swimmers at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 1982 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Australia Officers of the Order of Australia Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Centenary Medal Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees The Apprentice Australia candidates Sportswomen from Queensland Swimmers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (Australian TV series) participants