Tamsyn Carolyn Lewis (born 20 July 1978) is an Australian media personality and former

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

who won a total of eighteen

Australian Championships The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

across the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the ...

and

400m hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Summer Olympics, Olympic athletics (sport), athletics programme since 1900 Summer Olympics, 1900 for men and since 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 for women. On a s ...

. She first represented Australia in 1994, and won the

in the 2008 World Indoor Championships.IAAF – Believe it, Tamsyn
/ref>

Personal life

Lewis was born and raised in

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 ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

and attended Methodist Ladies' College and

Caulfield Grammar School Caulfield Grammar School is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican, International Baccalaureate, day school, day and boarding school, located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1881 as ...

. Her mother Carolyn Wright was a six-time national

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

champion, while her father, Greg Lewis, was a semi-finalist in the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

at the Summer 1968 Olympics. She married

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er Graham Manou in 2011.

Athletics career

Lewis emerged onto the national athletics scene in 1994, winning several events at the Australian Championships: the Under-16 100 m/200 m double and the Under-20 400 m. After these performances she was chosen, aged 15, for 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, ...

as a

4 x 400 metres relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

runner, though she did not eventually compete in the event.Athletics Australia profile – Tamsyn Manou
/ref> Her next international selection was for the 1996 World Junior Championships in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, where she won a bronze medal as part of the Australian 4 x 400 metres relay team. In 1998, Lewis moved up to the 800 metres, winning the

National Championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

and gaining a place in the

1998 Commonwealth Games The 1998 Commonwealth Games ''(Malay: Sukan Komanwel 1998)'', officially known as the XVI Commonwealth Games ''(Malay: Sukan Komanwel ke-16)'', was a multi-sport event held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This edition is marked by several unprecedent ...

team. Though she did not win a medal in the 800 metres, she contributed to Australia's gold medal winning 4 × 400 metres relay team. She next ran internationally in the 800 metres and 4 x 400 metres relay at the 1999 World Indoor Championships in

Maebashi is the capital city of Gunma Prefecture, in the northern Kantō region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 335,352 in 151,171 households, and a population density of 1100 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It wa ...

, where she set an Australian indoor record of 2:02.42 in her individual event and again won a medal as part of Australia's 4 x 400 metres relay team. Leading up to the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics, Lewis set new personal bests in the 400 and 800 metres to qualify for the Australian team. At the Olympics, she missed the Olympic final in the 800 metres by less than a tenth of a second, but ran in Australia's 4 x 400 metres relay team which set two national records. In the following years, Lewis did not improve her personal best performances and gained a reputation as an underachiever in international competitions. She stopped running the 800 metres in 2005 to focus on the 400 metres and develop her speed. She competed only in the 400 metres at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

, where she missed making the final, and in the 4 x 400 metres relay event, where she won her third successive gold medal amidst a major controversy, as part of the victorious Australian quartet. In 2007 Lewis made a return to the 800 metres under new coach, and brother, Justin Lewis, winning the national championships, placing in several European Meetings and qualifying for the 2007 World Championships, where she finished fourth in her heat in 2:01.21 and again missed the final. Lewis enjoyed a return to her best form in early 2008, remaining undefeated over 400 metres and 800 metres in Australia. Athletics Gold – 2008 season
/ref> She ran a personal best time of 51.44 to win the national 400 metres titles and comfortably retained her 800 metres crown. These performances earned Lewis selection in her third consecutive Australian Olympic team. At the 2008 World Indoor Championships, held in

Valencia, Spain Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area also ...

, Lewis qualified for the final by running an Australian record of 2:01.85 in her heat. In a tactical final, Lewis broke away from perennial champion

Maria de Lurdes Mutola Maria de Lurdes Mutola ( ; born 27 October 1972) is a retired female track and field athlete from Mozambique who specialised in the 800 metres running event. She is only the fourth female track and field athlete to compete at six Olympic Games. ...

and

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

Tetiana Petlyuk Tetiana Hryhorivna Petlyuk or Tetiana Hryhorivna Petliuk ( uk, Тетяна Григорівна Петлюк; born 22 February 1982) is a Ukrainian runner who specializes in the 800 metres. Her personal best time is 1:57.34 minutes, achieved in ...

to win the gold medal in a major upset.IAAF World Indoor Championships – Women's 800 metres
/ref> Lewis said "I was wondering what I was doing out there. Then I realised that I could win the race. This is amazing. I still can't believe it." Lewis represented Australia at the

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Here she made the semi-final of the 800 metres and narrowly missed qualifying for the semi-final of the 400 metres. At the 2009 Australian Championships, Lewis won both the 400 metres and the 400m hurdles. Over her athletics career, Lewis won a total of 18 national titles, and her coaches included Peter Fortune (

Cathy Freeman Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman (born 16 February 1973) is an Aboriginal Australian former sprinter, who specialised in the 400 metres event. Her personal best of 48.63 seconds currently ranks her as the ninth-fastest woman of all time, set ...

's coach),

Sebastian Coe Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British politician and former track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medal ...

and

Daley Thompson Francis Morgan Ayodélé Thompson, (born 30 July 1958), better known as Daley Thompson, is a British former decathlete. He won the decathlon gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984, and broke the world record for the event four tim ...

Relay teams

Lewis won a number of international medals in the 4 × 400 m relay: * At the 1996 World Junior Championships in Sydney, Lewis, Rosemary Hayward, Josephine Fowley and Jennifer Marshall won a bronze medal, recording a time of 3:32.47. * At the 1999 World Indoor Championships in

, Lewis combined with Susan Andrews, Tania Van-Heer and

to win a silver medal in an Australian record of 3:26.87. *Lewis is also a three-time gold medal winner in the Commonwealth Games 4 × 400 m relay event. * At Kuala Lumpur 1998, Lewis joined Lee Naylor, Tania Van-Heer and Susan Andrews to win in a time of 3:27.28. * At Manchester 2002, Lewis ran the third leg in a team which featured Olympic 400 metres champion

Lauren Hewitt Lauren Katherine Hewitt (born 25 November 1978 in Warracknabeal, Victoria) is a track and field sprinter from Australia. She competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1996, and won the bronze medal in the women's 2 ...

and, anchoring, 400m hurdles champion

Jana Pittman Jana Pittman (born 9 November 1982) is an Australian former athlete. During her athletic career Pittman specialised in the 400 metres run and 400-metre hurdles events. She is a two-time world champion in the 400 m hurdles, from 2003 and 200 ...

. Lewis leg saw Australia move from second into first place, and their time was a Games record 3:25.63. * At

Melbourne 2006 The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

, Lewis and her teammates Pittman, Caitlin Willis and Rosemary Hayward were second across the line being beaten by England; again Lewis had run the third leg. After consultation with her fellow runners, both Lewis and Pittman informed officials of a rule breach by England's Natasha Danvers (IAAF Rule 170 – Item 9), which the officials had already noted. England was subsequently disqualified and Australia awarded the gold medal; the time 3:28.66. Afterwards, Australian track legend

Ron Clarke Ronald William Clarke, AO, MBE (21 February 1937 – 17 June 2015) was an Australian athlete, writer, and the Mayor of the Gold Coast from 2004 to 2012. He was one of the best-known middle- and long-distance runners in the 1960s, notable for ...

called on the Australian team to return their gold medal.

Media career

Lewis began her media career with

radio station

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations. The network dates back to th ...

, as part of the 'Dead Set Legends' crew, in 2005. In 2006, she appeared on the Australian television series ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

''. Partnered by Arsen Kishishian, Lewis finished third. From December 2007, with

Jules Lund Jules Lund (born 24 April 1979) is an Australian television presenter from Melbourne and founder of TR, BE. Early life Lund was born in Melbourne in 1979, where he attended De La Salle College, Malvern. Lund studied Graphic Design, Photography ...

and

Ryan Shelton Ryan Shelton is an Australian comedian, actor, radio presenter, television personality, host and writer. Biography He attended St Leonards College for some of his schooling, where he met Hamish Blake. He started his media career in Melbourne' ...

, Lewis presented the ''Summer Fling'' breakfast show across the Austereo Today Network. Lewis and

Bruce McAvaney Bruce William McAvaney OAM (born 22 June 1953) is an Australian sports broadcaster with the Seven Network. McAvaney has presented high-profile events including the AFL Grand Final, Melbourne Cup, Australian Open, Test cricket and both Winter ...

presented the athletics track events for the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

at 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 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

and at the

2021 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Controversies

In 2004, Lewis posed in bikinis for ''

Ralph Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...

'' magazine, prompting criticism from the media for losing focus on her preparation for the Athens Olympics. After Lewis failed to progress past the heats of her individual event, the 800 metres, she and her coaches defended the photoshoot saying it was undertaken in five hours on one day and was not to blame for her result. In February 2006, Lewis and fellow Australian runner

were involved in a public feud after the Australian athletics trials for the

. Pittman, in answer to a media question following her heat win, had stated she had "no competition" in Australia; Lewis responded "I was standing behind the blocks or the finalgoing, 'I'll give you no competition, bitch.'" in a radio interview after she won the final with Pittman finishing last. The media later described their relationship as a "catfight" and a "bitchfight." In the 29 May 2006 edition of Australian "Zoo Weekly" magazine, Lewis again posed in what

Nova 100 Nova 100 (call sign: 3MEL) is a commercial radio station in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, broadcasting on 100.3 MHz. The station is owned by NOVA Entertainment along with sister station, smoothfm 91.5. History Nova 100 commenced on th ...

afternoon DJ's described as "incredibly racy" lingerie. In the accompanying article, Lewis went into detail about her relationship with Jana Pittman and the furore caused over comments by Pittman that the team should all return their medals. In the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics she stated she would be running against drug cheats: "I have no doubts that when I line up next week, I will look left and right and know the other girls aren't all clean".Tamsyn Lewis: I'll be racing drugs cheats
/ref>

Statistics

Personal bests

Australian Championships titles

Yearly progression

References

External links

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

profile fo
Tamsyn Manou
*
Tamsyn Lewis – personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manou, Tamsyn 1978 births Olympic athletes of Australia Australian female sprinters Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Australian female middle-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Sportswomen from Victoria (Australia) People educated at Caulfield Grammar School Living people World Athletics Championships athletes for Australia Athletes from Melbourne Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics World Athletics Indoor Championships winners World Athletics Indoor Championships medalists