Nicole Dawn Livingstone, OAM (born 24 June 1971) is an Australian former competitive

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

. Since retiring from swimming Livingstone has had careers as a television sports commentator and media presenter and as a sports administrator. She was known for a period as Nicole Stevenson, when she was married to Australian cyclist

Clayton Stevenson Clayton Stevenson (born 29 December 1967) is an Australian former cyclist. He competed in the team time trial at the 1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly kno ...

Early life

Livingstone grew up in Melbourne and started swimming at 9. She attended

Parkdale Secondary College (I undertake and I achieve) , established = 1964 , type = Public, co-ed, day school , principal = David Russell , city = Mordialloc , state = Victoria , ...

. Her mother worked at

Metropolitan Golf Club The Metropolitan Golf Club is one of the renowned sandbelt courses of Melbourne and is widely recognised as one of the finest championship courses in Australia. It is located in Oakleigh South, in the city's south-eastern suburbs, approximately ...

and her father at

Carlton & United Breweries Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) is an Australian brewing company based in Melbourne and owned by Japanese conglomerate Asahi Breweries. Its notable brands include Victoria Bitter, Carlton Draught, Foster's Lager, Great Northern, Resch's, Pu ...

. She had an older brother, Gary and older sister, Karen.

Swimming career

Livingstone competed for Australia in three summer Olympics - 1988, 1992, and 1996 - winning both individual and team medals. She was an

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

scholarship holder. She held the Australian record for the 200-metre

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four Swimming (sport), swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disa ...

, with at time of 2:10.20, set on 31 July 1992 at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain for 16 years. Meagen Nay broke the Australian record twice at the 2008 Australian Olympic Trials. She is the only Australian swimmer to have competed in six successive

Pan Pacific Swimming Championships The Pan Pacific Swimming Championships is a long course swimming event first held in 1985.Bill Nelson Clarence William Nelson II (born September 29, 1942) is an American politician and attorney serving as the administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Nelson previously served as a United States Senator from Flor ...

Melbourne Vicentre Melbourne Vicentre is a swimming club based at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC), Melbourne, Australia. Its head coach is 1992 Olympian Craig Jackson, supported by Kenrick Monk, Brad Harris and others. Prior to his resignation in ...

and Gennadi Touretski.

Notable races

1991 World Aquatics Championships The 1991 World Aquatics Championships took place at the Claremont Superdrome in Perth, Western Australia from 3 to 13 January 1991 with 1142 participating athletes. Medal table Medal summary Diving ;Men ;Women Open water swimming ;M ...

(

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

), 4x100

medley relay Medley or Medleys may refer to: Sports *Medley swimming, races requiring multiple swimming styles *Relay race#Medley relay, Medley relay races at track meets Music *Medley (music), multiple pieces strung together People *Medley (surname), list ...

, 2nd place Australia (with Linley Frame, Susie O'Neill, Karen Van Wirdum) * 1992, 200 m backstroke, set world short course record, Melbourne. *

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

, 200 m backstroke, Bronze medal. *

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, 4 × 200 m freestyle relay, Bronze medal (with Julia Greville, Emma Johnson, Susan O'Neill) * 1996 Summer Olympics, 4 × 100 m medley relay, Silver medal (with Samantha Riley, Susan O'Neill, Sarah Ryan)

Media career

Upon retiring from swimming following the 1996 Olympics, Livingstone began commentating on the surf lifesaving and swimming on the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

. While at Nine she also had the role of host of ''

Nine's Wide World of Sport ''Nine's Wide World of Sports'' is a long running sports anthology brand on Australian television that airs on the Nine Network and streaming service Stan. All major sports, events and series covered by the network are broadcast under this br ...

, Sports Saturday and Any Given Sunday'' with

Mick Molloy Michael Molloy (born 11 July 1966) is an Australian comedian, writer, producer, actor and television and radio presenter who has been active in radio, television, stand-up and film. He currently hosts ''The Front Bar'' on the Seven Network. L ...

in 2006. When the swimming coverage moved to

Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

in 2009, Livingstone moved stations. In 2017 Livingstone co-hosted Sideliners with

Tegan Higginbotham Tegan Marie Higginbotham (born 25 March 1988) is an Australian comedian, writer and actress. Higginbotham contributes regularly as a sports columnist for ''The Age'' and writes a blog. Personal life Higginbotham was born in Dandenong, a suburb ...

on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

which was looking to put a female lens on sport. Livingstone has also been a sports presenter on '' Nine News PM Edition'' and a fill in presenter on ''

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

's Sports Tonight.'' Since her retirement, Livingstone has travelled to all six Summer Olympics and at the Commonwealth Games as a commentator for the swimming coverage. Nicole has worked for

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

in 2021 and 2022 commentating on the Australian Swimming Championships. She has also been a presenter for

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

station

SEN 1116 1116 SEN (call sign 3AK) is an Australian radio station in Victoria. Owned and operated by Pacific Star Network, it broadcasts a sports radio format from Lower Plenty to Greater Melbourne. First broadcast on 29 November 1931 as 3AK, the stat ...

and appeared on a number of programs including The Project and Q+A.

Business and administrative roles

Sporting roles

Livingstone has worked on multiple boards for various sporting bodiesLivingstone is active in promoting drug-free sports in Australia and is involved in the Australian Olympic Committee's "Live Clean, Play Clean" anti-doping education program. She was also a board member of the Australian Sports Drug Agency (ASDA), whose mission is to combat drug use in sports. Livingstone was elected to the board 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 Aus ...

in 2013. In 2017 she backed the campaign for

Danni Roche Danielle Roche OAM (born 25 May 1970 in Melbourne, Victoria) is a former field hockey player, who was a member of the Australian Women’s Hockey Team, commonly known as the "Hockeyroos", which won the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympi ...

to take over as the head of the , and ran in the elections for the executive. While Roche's campaign was ultimately unsuccessful, Livingstone was the only member of the rival ticket to be elected. Livingstone sits on the Board of

Swimming Australia Swimming Australia is the peak governing body for competitive swimming in Australia. The body has approximately 100,000 registered members nationally in 1100 clubs across the country, which includes swimmers, coaches, officials, administrators ...

and has been the Chief Executive of the Melbourne Vicentre Swimming Club since July 2012 until the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

. Livingstone was announced as the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

's head of women's football on 16 November 2017. At this time she resigned her post on the executive of the AOC. She is responsible for managing the

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football league for female players. The first season of the league in February and March 2017 had eight teams; the league expanded to 10 teams in the 2019 season, 1 ...

competition. In addition to these roles, she has also sat on the board of the Victorian Olympic Council.

Other roles

At the time of her appointment to the board of Swimming Australia, Livingstone was also a member of the VicHealth and State Sports Centre Trust boards. Following her mother's death from

ovarian cancer Ovarian cancer is a cancerous tumor of an ovary. It may originate from the ovary itself or more commonly from communicating nearby structures such as fallopian tubes or the inner lining of the abdomen. The ovary is made up of three different c ...

, Livingstone started Ovarian Cancer Australia and is currently the patron of the organisation.

Personal life

Livingstone was married to cyclist

, and is currently married to cinematographer Marty Smith. She has three children, twins Ella and Joshua in 2002, and a second son, Robinson in 2007. Her mother died from ovarian cancer, and both Stevenson and her sister have both tested positive for the

BRCA2 ''BRCA2'' and BRCA2 () are a human gene and its protein product, respectively. The official symbol (BRCA2, italic for the gene, nonitalic for the protein) and the official name (originally breast cancer 2; currently BRCA2, DNA repair associated) ...

gene. They have both had surgery to remove their ovaries. Her father died of

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

in 2014.

Honours

Livingstone was awarded the

Order of Australia Medal 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 1997 for service to swimming as a representative at state, national and international levels. A Sydney RiverCat ferry was named after Livingstone in 1995. She was a finalist for Veuve Clicquot BOLD Woman award in 2021.

References

External links

* Australian Institute of Sports
Swimming
* Australian Sports Drug Agency

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Livingstone, Nicole 1971 births Living people Olympic swimmers of Australia Swimmers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Swimming commentators Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Swimmers at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Australia Sportswomen from Victoria (Australia) Olympic silver medalists for Australia Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Olympic bronze medalists in swimming Australian female backstroke swimmers Australian female freestyle swimmers Australian Institute of Sport swimmers Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) Swimmers from Melbourne World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in swimming Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Australian sports executives and administrators VFL/AFL administrators