Joanna Lindsay Fargus (born 3 January 1982) is a British-Australian former swimmer who specialised in the 200-metre backstroke. In this event she won a gold medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, and at the

European Short Course Swimming Championships 2000 The fourth edition of the European Short Course Championships was held in Palau Luis Puig in Valencia, Spain, from December 14 to December 17, 2000, just a couple of months after the Sydney Games. Medal table Men's events 50 m freestyle ...

and a bronze medal at the

2001 World Aquatics Championships right The 2001 World Aquatics Championships or the 9th FINA World Swimming Championships were held in Fukuoka, Japan between 16 July and 29 July 2001. The opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the swimming and synchronised swimming events, ...

; she finished ninth 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 ...

. She also competed in freestyle, winning a gold medal in the 4×200-metre relay 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 ...

Biography

Fargus was born in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

to a Scottish father and Australian mother and therefore holds dual British-Australian citizenship. After spending 10 years in Hong Kong, she moved to the UK for boarding school ( Millfield) for five years before transferring to Australia where she completed high school at Somerset College in

Mudgeeraba, Queensland Mudgeeraba ( ) is a town and suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the , the suburb of Mudgeeraba had a population of 13,624 people. Mudgeeraba's essential character remains one of a nineteenth-century village, and conta ...

. She then moved back to England, where she swam full-time at the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

. In 2002, she enrolled at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

(USC) on a full athletic scholarship and until 2006 competed and worked as a volunteer coach in the United States. She was voted USC Woman of the Year 2005 and graduated cum laude with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in communication. All those years she represented England and Great Britain at international competitions, after which she transferred her sporting allegiance to swim for Australia. From January 2006 to March 2008 she competed for Australia, winning the 200 m backstroke event at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. An Australian postal stamp featuring her has been issued on this occasion. Around March 2008 she retired from swimming and moved back to Hong Kong, where she first worked as an account executive at PPR Greater China and then as media relations manager at HSBC. Her brother Andrew competed for Scotland in

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the ...

at the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fargus, Joanna 1982 births Living people British female swimmers Female backstroke swimmers Olympic swimmers for Great Britain Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Swimmers at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 2006 Commonwealth Games People educated at Millfield Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games

Biography

See also

References