Michelle Jan Ford (born 15 July 1962) is an Australian former long-distance freestyle and

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprise ...

swimmer of the 1970s and 1980s, who won a gold medal in the 800-metre freestyle, bronze in the 200-metre butterfly, and 4th in the 400-metres freestyle at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. She was the only non- Soviet bloc female swimmer to win an individual gold medal at the 1980 games. She also set two world records in her career, and was the first Australian woman to win individual Olympic medals in two distinct specialised strokes. Ford, the second of four children grew up in the seaside Sydney suburb of Sans Souci, familiar with water, as her father Ian, a dentist, had narrowly missed Olympic selection as a yachtsman. After learning to swim at the age of six, she made national headlines when she swam the 100-yard freestyle in 61.5 seconds, at the age of 12, the fastest time ever set by a swimmer at such an age. In January 1976, at the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Age Championships, at the North Sydney pool, she broke six state and three national records at the age of 13, two of which had previously been held by triple Olympic gold medallist

Shane Gould Shane Elizabeth Gould (born 23 November 1956) is an Australian former competition swimmer. She won three gold medals, a silver medal and a bronze, at the 1972 Summer Olympics. In 2018, she won the fifth season of ''Australian Survivor,'' becom ...

. She proceeded to compete at the Australian Championships, where she won the 200-metre butterfly, despite standing only 140 centimetres, setting another national and Commonwealth record in the process. Another strong performance in the 200-metre freestyle lead to selection for both events for the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 P ...

in Montreal. After a seven-week national training camp, she competed in her first Olympic race in the 200-metre freestyle, where her competition included the eventual champion,

Kornelia Ender Kornelia Ender (later Matthes now Grummt, born 25 October 1958 in Plauen, Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt) is a former East German swimmer who at the 1976 Summer Olympics became the first woman swimmer to win four gold medals at a single Olympic Games, ...

of East Germany. After the Olympics, Ford scaled her training back in order to catch up on her studies at St George Girls High School. On the advice of her coach Dick Caine, she began to concentrate on distance freestyle swimming, and in 1977 set an Australian record in the 400-metre freestyle at the New South Wales Age Championships, before setting another national record at the Australian Championships in the 800-metre freestyle, as well as winning the 200-metre freestyle. The following year in 1978, at the KB international meet in Brisbane, she broke the 800-metre freestyle record of

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

's Petra Thumer by 0.18 of a second, setting a new time of 8:35.04, lowering her own national record by 10 seconds. She also set another Australian and Commonwealth record in the 200-metre butterfly. A fortnight later, Ford lowered her record to 8:31.30. At the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Ford won gold in the 200-metre butterfly, silver in the 400-metres and 800-metre freestyle, bronze in the 200-metre freestyle and 4x100-metre freestyle relay. In 1979, Ford missed the Australian Championships in order to concentrate on her final year of high school. At the Soviet Spartakiad Games later in the year, she won three golds in the 200-metre butterfly and 400- and 800-metre freestyle. She then moved to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

, in the United States, to train and compete under

Don Talbot Donald Malcolm Talbot (23 August 19333 November 2020) was an Australian Olympic swimming coach and sport administrator. He coached national teams for Canada, the United States and Australia. Early life Talbot was born on 23 August 1933 as t ...

on the American domestic circuit. Ford won the 800- and the 1500-metre freestyle, and was second in the 200- and 400-metre freestyle at the 1980 Australian Championships to gain selection for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Under public pressure from the Government of Australia, particularly Prime Minister

Malcolm Fraser John Malcolm Fraser (; 21 May 1930 – 20 March 2015) was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983, holding office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Fraser was raised on hi ...

, who as the patron of the

Australian Olympic Committee Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

to boycott the Games in protest of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

's invasion of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. Ford chose to attend the games, competing in the 200-metre butterfly and the 400- and 800-metre freestyle. In the 200-metre butterfly, she qualified fastest, ahead of East Germany's

Andrea Pollack Andrea Pollack (later Pinske; 8 May 1961 – 13 March 2019) was a butterfly swimmer from East Germany who won three Olympic gold medals. Pollack was born in 1961 in Schwerin. She was a member of SC Dynamo Berlin. She who won two gold medals a ...

and Ines Geissler. In the final the East Germans turned the tables, with Geissler and Sybille Schonrock leading Ford home into the bronze medal position. She qualified third fastest in the 400-metre freestyle, but the strategy undertaken by the East German trio coaxed her into deviating from her pre-race plan. She finished fourth. Later, in her final event, the 800 m freestyle, Ford had qualified behind another East German,

Ines Diers Ines Diers (later Noack; born 2 November 1963, in Rochlitz) is a former freestyle swimming, freestyle swimmer from East Germany. At age sixteen she won a total number of five medals at the boycotted 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, USSR. Refere ...

. Ford made a slow start, lying in seventh at the 100-metre mark before snatching the lead from Diers at the 200-metre mark and extending it to a 3.65-second victory winning Olympic gold medal and claiming the Olympic Record. After returning to Australia, Ford attempted to break the 16-minute barrier in the 1500-metre freestyle, but was thwarted, firstly by a timing failure, then by New South Wales, who did not want her to make her second attempt in Queensland, and finally disqualification on her third attempt for incorrectly withdrawing from a previous race. Frustrated, she retired from swimming in 1981. In 1981, Ford attended the University of Wollongong until taking up a scholarship at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, where she completed a bachelor's degree in business communication and a master's degree in sports psychology. Ford was one of 30 athletes to be invited by President Samaranch to the Olympic Congress in Baden Baden and became one of the inaugural members of the IOC Athletes Commission. In 1982 Commonwealth Games she won the 200-metre butterfly for the second time and silver in the 800-metre freestyle. Ford was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1982, and was inducted into the

International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the s ...

as an "Honour Swimmer" in 1994.

References

Bibliography

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Michelle 1962 births Living people Olympic swimmers of Australia Australian female butterfly swimmers Australian female freestyle swimmers Swimmers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Sportswomen from New South Wales Swimmers at the 1978 Commonwealth Games World record setters in swimming Olympic bronze medalists in swimming Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire Swimmers from Sydney Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Australia Olympic gold medalists for Australia Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Olympic gold medalists in swimming Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Universiade medalists in swimming Universiade silver medalists for Australia Universiade bronze medalists for Australia Medalists at the 1983 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1985 Summer Universiade Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Medallists at the 1978 Commonwealth Games

See also

References

Bibliography