Tracey Wickham
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Tracey Lee Wickham | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nickname | Tiger | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National team | Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | 24 November 1962 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.63 m (5 ft 4 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Strokes | Freestyle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Tracey Lee Wickham
Swimming career
Wickham began swimming at the age of eight at John Rigby's pool in Brisbane and mastered her technique under the guidance of Peter Diamond. At the age of thirteen, she was selected to be on the Australian team for the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games but failed to reach the finals at that meet.
In 1977, Wickham's family moved to California, where she trained for six months with coaching legend Mark Schubert. She returned to Brisbane at the end of 1977 and she came under the guidance of coach Bill Sweetenham at the Commercial Swimming Club. On 8 February 1978, Wickham broke her first world record, the 1500 m freestyle, in a solo swim at the Fortitude Valley Pool in Brisbane, clocking 16:14.93.
At the
In 1980, Australia decided against an official
Wickham retired at the end of 1979 due to financial problems. The policy of
Personal life
She was educated at the All Hallows' School, in Brisbane along with her sisters Julie and Kelly.[5] Wickham married in 1986 and had two children, Daniel and Hannah. She divorced her husband in the mid-1990s.
Her daughter, Hannah, died at the age of nineteen from synovial sarcoma on 2 October 2007.[6] Wickham is an ambassador for Hannah's Chance Foundation, which supports teenage cancer victims.[7]
Honours and awards
On 30 December 1978, Wickham was made a
On 10 December 1985, she was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame,[1] and was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame at Fort Lauderdale in 1992.[9]
On 25 October 2000, she was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for outstanding contribution as a competitor in swimming.[10]
On 13 June 2005, she was awarded the
Swimming achievements
- 1976 Montreal Olympic Games
- Team member
- 1978 Edmonton Commonwealth Games
- 400 metres freestyle - gold medal
- 800 metres freestyle - gold medal
- 200 metres freestyle - silver medal
- 4 x 100-metre medley relay (butterfly leg) - silver medal
- 4 x 100-metre freestyle relay - bronze medal
- 1978 Berlin World Championships
- 400 metres freestyle - gold medal
- 800 metres freestyle - gold medal
- 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games
- 400 metres freestyle - gold medal
- 800 metres freestyle - gold medal
- 200 metres freestyle - silver medal
- 1990 Magnetic Island to Townsville Swim
- First place
- 1990 Italian Gran Fondo Marathon Lake Swim
- First place
Book
- Tracey Wickham's biography Treading Water: My Life in And Out of the Pool by Peter Meares[2] was published by Random House Australia October 2010.
See also
- List of members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame
- Commonwealth Games records in swimming
- List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (women)
- List of Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming (women)
- World record progression 400 metres freestyle
- World record progression 800 metres freestyle
- World record progression 1500 metres freestyle
References
- ^ a b "Tracey Wickham". Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
- ^ a b "Treading Water: My Life in And Out of the Pool".
- ^ Miller, Anne (2 May 2016). "Tracey Shares Her Triumphs And Sadness". South Burnett Online.
- ^ "Successful solo race crossings 1954–2008". Magnetic Island to Townsville. Archived from the original on 13 October 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
- ^ Robson, Frank. (7 August 1999). "Cyclone Tracey". The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia. p27.
- ^ Smith, Wayne (4 October 2007). "Tracey Wickham's daughter's dying wish". The Australian.
- ^ "Hannah's Chance Foundation". Retrieved 10 August 2010.
- ^ "Tracey Wickham". Australian Honours Database. Retrieved 4 January 2007.
- ^ "Tracey Wickham". International Swimming Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 31 May 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
- ^ "Tracey Wickham". Australian Honours Database. Retrieved 4 January 2007.
- ^ "Tracey Wickham". Australian Honours Database. Retrieved 4 January 2007.
External links
- Tracey Wickham at IMDb