Petria Thomas

Petria Thomas

Personal information
Full name	Petria Ann Thomas
National team	Australia
Born	(1975-08-25) 25 August 1975 Lismore, New South Wales
Height	1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Weight	64 kg (141 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle, butterfly
Club	Ginninderra Swim Club
Medal record Women's swimming Representing Australia Olympic Games Athens 2004 100 m butterfly Athens 2004 4×100 m freestyle Athens 2004 4×100 m medley Atlanta 1996 200 m butterfly Sydney 2000 4×200 m freestyle Sydney 2000 4×100 m medley Athens 2004 200 m butterfly Sydney 2000 200 m butterfly World Championships (LC) 2001 Fukuoka 100 m butterfly 2001 Fukuoka 200 m butterfly 2001 Fukuoka 4×100 m medley 1998 Perth 200 m butterfly 1998 Perth 4×100 m medley 1998 Perth 100 m butterfly 1998 Perth 4×200 m freestyle World Championships (SC) 2002 Moscow 200 m butterfly 1993 Majorca 4×100 m medley 1999 Hong Kong 200 m butterfly 1999 Hong Kong 4×100 m medley 2002 Moscow 50 m butterfly 2002 Moscow 100 m butterfly 2002 Moscow 4×100 m freestyle 1993 Mallorca 200 m butterfly 2002 Moscow 4×200 m freestyle Pan Pacific Championships 2002 Yokohama 200 m butterfly 2002 Yokohama 4×100 m freestyle 2002 Yokohama 4×100 m medley 1993 Kobe 4×100 m medley 2002 Yokohama 100 m butterfly 2002 Yokohama 4×200 m freestyle 1993 Kobe 100 m butterfly Commonwealth Games 1994 Victoria 100 m butterfly 1994 Victoria 4×100 m medley 1998 Kuala Lumpur 100 m butterfly 1998 Kuala Lumpur 4×100 m medley 2002 Manchester 50 m butterfly 2002 Manchester 100 m butterfly 2002 Manchester 200 m butterfly 2002 Manchester 4×100 m freestyle 2002 Manchester 4×100 m medley 1998 Kuala Lumpur 200 m butterfly 2002 Manchester 4×200 m freestyle 2002 Manchester 200 m freestyle

Petria Ann Thomas, OAM (born 25 August 1975) is an Australian swimmer and Olympic gold medallist and a winner of 15 national titles. She was born in Lismore, New South Wales, and grew up in the nearby town of Mullumbimby.

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 in Victoria, Canada. However, she then struggled for two years, until making a comeback at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta in 1996. She won a silver medal, finishing second to fellow Australian Susie O'Neill.

Despite being plagued by a shoulder injury, Thomas repeated her 1994 Commonwealth Games effort at the 1998 Games in Kuala Lumpur. 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 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, 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 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 managed to win 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 managed to achieve gold at the 2004 Summer Olympics 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.

Thomas was inducted into the Australian Institute of Sport Swimming Hall of Fame in 1996, and was crowned the AIS Athlete of the Year in 2001 (with gymnast Philippe Rizzo) and 2002 and in 2006 inducted in the AIS 'Best of the Best'. She was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2007.

She currently resides in Amaroo, Canberra, with her husband, Julian Jones, the head strength and conditioning coach at the AIS. They have two children. Thomas manages the Swimming Australia National Training Centre at the AIS

See also

• List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)
• World record progression 4 × 100 metres freestyle relay
• World record progression 4 × 100 metres medley relay

External links

• Petria Thomas at the Internet Movie Database

Awards
Preceded by Susie O'Neill	Swimming World Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year 2001 – 2002	Succeeded by Leisel Jones

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