Petria Ann Thomas, (born 25 August 1975) is an Australian

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 ...

and Olympic gold medallist and a winner of 15 national titles. She was born in

Lismore, New South Wales Lismore is a city in northeastern New South Wales, Australia and the main population centre in the City of Lismore local government area; it is also a regional centre in the Northern Rivers region of the State. It is situated on a low flood pl ...

, and grew up in the nearby town of

Mullumbimby Mullumbimby is an Australian town in the Byron Shire in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. It promotes itself as "The Biggest Little Town in Australia". The town lies at the foot of Mount Chincogan in the Brunswick Valley about 9 ...

Career

In 1993, at the age of 17, Thomas won a bronze medal in the 200-metre butterfly at the World Short Course Championships. She followed this with two gold medals, in the 100-metre butterfly and 4×100-metre freestyle in the

1994 Commonwealth Games The 1994 Commonwealth Games (French: ''XVéme Jeux du Commonwealth'') were held in Victoria, British Columbia, from 18 to 28 August 1994. Ten types of sports were featured at the Victoria Games: athletics, aquatics, badminton, boxing, cycling ...

in Victoria, Canada. However, she then struggled for two years, until making a comeback at the

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, ...

in Atlanta in 1996. She won a silver medal, finishing second to fellow Australian

Susie O'Neill Susan O'Neill, (born 2 August 1973) is an Australian former competitive swimmer from Brisbane, Queensland, nicknamed "Madame Butterfly". She achieved eight Olympic Games medals during her swimming career. Early life Susan (Susie) O'Neill was ...

. Despite being plagued by a shoulder injury, Thomas repeated her 1994 Commonwealth Games effort at the 1998 Games in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

. She also won a bronze in the 100-metre butterfly and a silver in the 200-metre at the World Championships in Perth, the same year. She had similar success at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

in Sydney in 2000, winning three medals – bronze in the 200-metre butterfly, silver in the 4×100-metre medley, and silver in the 4×200-metre freestyle. Thomas had always struggled to surpass O'Neill, despite being talented in her own right. However, after the 2000 games, O'Neill retired, and Thomas, despite battling recurring injuries, decided to continue. The decision paid off when she won three gold medals at the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. She won both the 100-metre and 200-metre butterfly, and then was part of the winning 4×100-metre medley relay team. She was also part of the 4×200-metre freestyle relay team, which completed the race first, but they were disqualified when Thomas jumped in the pool to celebrate before the other competitors had completed the race. At the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...

, Thomas won five gold, one silver and one bronze medals. While being one of the pinnacles of her career, her victory also made her the first female swimmer ever to win the same event at three consecutive

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the ex ...

– the 100-metre butterfly. She followed this with three gold and two silver medals at the 2002 Pan Pacific Championships in Yokohama, Japan. At the short-course championships in Moscow, Russia, Thomas won another gold medal in her pet event, the 200-metre butterfly. However, injuries forced her out of competition soon afterwards, and she had to spend much of 2003 recovering from yet another shoulder reconstruction. In 2004, Thomas made another comeback at the Olympic selection trials in Sydney while training with the Ginninderra Swimming Club. She broke the Commonwealth records in the 50-metre and 100-metre butterfly, set new personal best times in the 100-metre freestyle, 200-metre freestyle and narrowly missed the world record in the 200-metre butterfly. After having missed out on first place in 1996 and 2000, Thomas finally achieved gold at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

in Athens. She won the individual 100-metre butterfly, and was a part of two world record-setting teams in the 4×100-metre freestyle and 4×100-metre medley relays. She was subsequently chosen to carry the Australian flag at the closing ceremony. Thomas announced her retirement from competitive swimming at the conclusion of the games. In mid-2005, Thomas released an autobiography, ''Swimming Against The Tide'', in which she describes her career, including her experiences with depression and injuries. She currently resides in Amaroo,

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

, with her husband,

Julian Jones Julian may refer to: People * Julian (emperor) (331–363), Roman emperor from 361 to 363 * Julian (Rome), referring to the Roman gens Julia, with imperial dynasty offshoots * Saint Julian (disambiguation), several Christian saints * Julian (giv ...

, the head strength and conditioning coach at the AIS. They have two children. Thomas manages the

Swimming Australia National Training Centre Swimming Australia National Training Centre ("NTC") (formally the AIS Swimming Program) is an Olympic and Paralympic swimming scholarship program based at the Australian Institute of Sport. Set up as one of the eight founding program of the AIS i ...

at the AIS. She served as Chef de Mission of the Australian team at the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England b ...

held in Birmingham, England.

Recognition

* 1996 -

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 th ...

Swimming Hall of Fame inductee * 2001 - AIS Athlete of the Year (with gymnast

Philippe Rizzo Philippe Rizzo (born 9 February 1981 in Sydney) is an Australian gymnast and Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder. He was the first Australian to win a medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships when he won silver on th ...

) * 2002 - AIS Athlete of the Year * 2006 - AIS 'Best of the Best' inductee * 2007 -

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 t ...

inductee * 2022 - University of Canberra Sport Walk of Fame inaugural inductee * 2022 - Australian Institute of Sport Leadership Award

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Petria 1975 births Living people Sportswomen from New South Wales Olympic swimmers of Australia Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Australia Olympic silver medalists for Australia Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Australia Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Australian Institute of Sport swimmers World record setters in swimming Olympic bronze medalists in swimming Australian female freestyle swimmers Australian female butterfly swimmers Swimmers at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming People from the Northern Rivers Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in swimming Olympic silver medalists in swimming Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming University of Canberra alumni

Career

Recognition

See also

References

External links