Australian Women Athletes

Cathy Freeman is a former sprinter known for her achievements in the 400 meters events. Her personal best of 48.63, set at the 1996 Olympics, makes her the eighth-fastest woman of all time. She gave Australia an Olympic gold at the 2000 Olympics. Also a humanitarian, Freeman is credited with founding the Cathy Freeman Foundation.

Sally Pearson is an Australian former athlete. After winning a silver medal in the 100 m hurdles at the 2008 Summer Olympics, Pearson went on to win Olympic gold in the same event in 2012. A two-time world champion, Sally Pearson also won two gold medals in Commonwealth Games. In 2011, she was named Female Athlete of the Year.

Michelle Jenneke is an Australian track and field athlete and model. She won a silver medal for Australia at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics. She received international recognition in 2012 when her pre-race warm-up dance became famous on the internet. As a model, Michelle Jenneke was featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2013.

A noted Australian distance runner and national record holder for the 1500m, Jessica Hull has been in the limelight since her time at the Oregon University, USA. In 2019, she turned pro and set a new personal best of 4:01.80 in the semi-final at the IAAF World Championships. She came  eleventh in the final at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
 

Marjorie Jackson-Nelson is a former Australian athlete. She won two Olympic and seven Commonwealth Games Gold Medals. She was appointed the Governor of South Australia in 2001 and held this position until 2007. She was married to Olympic cyclist Peter Nelson who died in 1977. She has been inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.  

Shirley Strickland was an Australian athlete who won three Olympic gold medals in running sports. The daughter of an athlete, she developed an early love for running and also played hockey. As a young woman, she pursued a teaching career. She took up running seriously in the late 1940s and participated in several competitive events with great success. 

Tatiana Grigorieva is a retired Australian pole vaulter. Born in Russia, she migrated to Australia in 1997 and took up pole vaulting, becoming one of the world's best within a year. In a career spanning a decade, she won Olympic, Commonwealth, and World Championship medals. She retired in 2007. She has also appeared in many TV programs and commercials.  

Raelene Boyle is an Australian former athlete who won silver medal in 200m in 1968 Olympics and silver medal in 100m and 200m in 1972 Olympics. In 1985, she was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Raelene Boyle was named in Australia's Top 100 Sportswomen of All Time list in 2013.

Genevieve Gregson is an Australian athlete who specializes in the 3000-meter steeplechase. She started running when she was nine years old and earned an athletics scholarship at the University of Florida. She represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She also competed in the 2018 Commonwealth Games. 

Eleanor Patterson is an Australian track and field athlete. She competes in the high jump and has a personal best of 1.99 meters for the event. She was the gold medallist in women’s athletics at the 2013 World Youth Championships and the 2014 Commonwealth Games. She took a break in 2018 and returned to athletics in 2020 with renewed vigor. 

Jane Saville is an Australian retired athlete best known for her bronze medal-winning performance in the women's 20 kilometers race walk event at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Saville has represented Australia at four Olympic Games. She also won three gold medals at 1998, 2002, and 2006 Commonwealth Games. She was the flag bearer for Australia at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Glynis Nunn is a former Australian heptathlete. She is famous for becoming the first Olympic champion in the event.  She qualified for the Commonwealth Games in 1978 but couldn’t participate due to an injury. She later participated in the Commonwealth Games in 1982 and the Olympic Games in 1984, winning gold medals at both the events.

Debbie Flintoff-King is an Australian former athlete who won the 400m hurdles at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. She also won three gold medals and four silver medals at Commonwealth Games between 1982 and 1990. At the 1987 World Championships, Flintoff-King won the silver medal. She was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1987.

Nina Kennedy is an Australian athlete who won the bronze medal in the pole vault event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. She currently holds the Australian pole vault record of 4.82m, which she set on 13 March 2021 at the Sydney Track Classic.

Linden Hall is an Australian athlete who specializes in middle-distance running events. Hall represented Australia at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics. In the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Linden Hall qualified for the final of the 1500 m race, finishing sixth with a personal best time. She has also represented Australia in other international competitions, including the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Dani Stevens is an Australian track and field athlete who specializes in discus throw. She won the gold medal at the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin, becoming the youngest female world champion in the discus throw event. The current Oceanian and national record holder, Dani Stevens has also won gold medals at the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Marlene Mathews is an Australian retired track and field athlete who won bronze medals in the 100 meters and 200 meters events at the 1956 Summer Olympics. In the 1958 Commonwealth Games, she won two gold medals. Regarded as one of the greatest Australian sprinters, Marlene Mathews was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985.

Holder of 32 state titles in sprints, hurdles, long jump and pentathlon, Australian athlete Pam Killborn came to international limelight when she won both the 80m hurdles and the long jump at 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. Ranked the world's top woman hurdler in 1963, 1965 and 1966, she also won bronze in Tokyo Olympics in 1964 and silver medal in Mexico City Olympics in 1968.

Maureen Caird is an Australian former track athlete. She specialized in the sprint hurdles. As a teenager, she began training in athletics under coach  June Ferguson. She won the gold medal in the 80-meter hurdles at the 1968 Summer Olympics, becoming the youngest-ever individual Olympic athletics champion at the time, at 17 years.  She retired in 1972.  

Daniela Costian made headlines when she became the first discus thrower from Australia to earn an Olympic medal, with her bronze in Barcelona in 1992. She has a World Championship silver and a Commonwealth Games gold in her kitty, too. A Romanian by birth, she took up an Australian citizenship later.

Apart from an Olympic bronze, Australian runner Judy Amoore also has two Commonwealth medals, including a gold, in her kitty. She was made part of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. At age 36, she became the oldest woman from Australia to compete at the Olympics.

Australian sprinter Norma Croker gained fame after finishing fourth in the National Women’s Championships in 1956 and then won a gold at the Melbourne Olympics the same year. She was the first to win an Olympic gold from Queensland and was also named to the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame.

Eileen Wearne was an Australian sprinter who gold and bronze medals at the 1938 British Empire Games. Born in the early 20th century, she became only the second woman selected to represent Australia in athletics at the Olympic Games. She continued to be active in the Olympic movement in Australia even after her retirement from active sports. 

Joyce King was an Australian sprinter who won the Australian national championships in the 100 yards and 220 yards events in 1948. The same year, she participated in the Summer Olympics in London and proceeded to win the silver medal in the 4 x 100 meters relay with her teammates June Maston, Shirley Strickland, and Elizabeth McKinnon. 

With her silver medal in women’s javelin at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Louise Currey became the second person to win an athletics medal at the event that year. She is married to retired men’s javelin Olympian Andrew Currey. Initially a heptathlete, she gained expertise in javelin much later.

Fleur Mellor is an Australian retired athlete. She participated in the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne and won the gold medal in the 4 x 100 meters relay, with Norma Croker, Shirley Strickland de la Hunty, and Betty Cuthbert. The team set two world records: clocking 44.9 in the heats and 44.5 in the final.  

Michele Brown is an Australian former high jumper. Brown was only the second female athlete after Iolanda Balaș to jump over six feet. She won the silver medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She also won gold medals at the 1958 and 1966 Commonwealth Games. In 2010, Brown was inducted into the Athletics Australia Hall of Fame.

Sprinter Jenny Lamy won three golds and a silver at the Commonwealth Games, along with a bronze at the Olympics. A three-time national champion, too, she was named to the Athletics Australia Hall of Fame. She was part of the club Northern Suburbs for most of her career.

Australian middle-distance runner Brenda Jones displayed her interest in athletics and softball since school. A national champion, she lost to Lyudmila Shevtsova at the 1960 Olympics. Post-retirement, she coached Waverley WAAC and also demonstrated her expertise in lawn bowling. She was married to her coach Don Carr.

Marilyn Black is an Australian retired track and field athlete. She achieved national recognition when she received the gold medal after winning the 100 yards race event at the New South Wales Championships when she was just 17 years old. Black went on to win the bronze medal in the 200 meters event at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Norma Thrower is a retired Australian hurdler who won the bronze medal in the 80 meters hurdles at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. Two years later, she won the 80 meters hurdles at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff. She also won several gold, silver, and bronze medals at the Australian championships in the 1950s. 

June Maston was an Australian sprinter and athlete turned coach. She began her career as an athlete and was placed fourth in the Australian national championships in the 100 yards. She won a silver medal in the 4 x 100 meters relay with teammates Joyce King, Shirley Strickland, and Elizabeth McKinnon at the 1948 London Olympics. 

Betty McKinnon was an Australian sprinter. She is remembered for winning a silver medal in the 4 x 100 meters relay with teammates June Maston, Shirley Strickland, and Joyce King at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. She also participated in the 100 meters and 200 meters races in the tournament. She competed in numerous national events as well.