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2016 OCEANIA FEMALE SWIMMER OF THE YEAR: CATE CAMPBELL
Headed into the 2016 Olympic Games, 24-year-old Australian Cate Campbell was the odds-on favorite for capturing a potential two-title sprint sweep in Rio. Competing at her nation’s Olympic Trials in April, ‘C1’ as she is nicknamed to differentiate herself from sister Bronte, scored a scorching 50m freestyle time of 23.84. That checked in as the fastest in the world and still stands as the only sub-24-second outing of 2016.
At that same meet, C1 threw down a monster 52.38 in the 100m freestyle to come within .05 of a second of her own national record. But the Commercial Swimming Club athlete wasn’t done with her pre-Olympic fireworks, as she crushed her own personal best, churning out a new World Record time of 52.06 at an Australian Grand Prix. The accomplishment occurred on July 2nd, just weeks before the kick-off of the 2016 Olympic Games.
Flash forward to Rio and Campbell couldn’t have asked for a better start to her Olympic campaign, as she was a major contributor to Australia’s gold medal-winning 4x100m freestyle relay. Blazing down the pool as the anchor, C1 registered the only sub-52-second split of the entire field, firing off a 51.97 to edge her nation’s squad to a new world record time en route to standing atop the podium. This was after Campbell already put the world on notice with a scorching 51.80 split in heats.
Campbell also played a major part in the silver medal result of the Aussie women’s 4x100m medley relay, where she put up another super quick split of 52.17 to anchor. That, again, was the swiftest of the entire field to help put the green and gold on the podium for a 2nd relay.
However, even with all signs pointing to a potentially historic Olympic outing, Campbell couldn’t seem to put things together on an individual level. After staking her claim on the women’s 100m freestyle race with Olympic Record-setting times of 52.78 and 52.71 in prelims and semi-finals, respectively, C1 found herself struggling in the final. She ultimately faded to a 6th place finish in 53.24, an almost pedestrian time by the world record holder’s own standards. Particularly gutting was the fact that her 52.71 time from semi’s was just .01 out of the eventual gold medal-winning mark earned by co-gold medalists Simone Manuel (USA) and Penny Oleksiak (CAN).
Despite another disappointing finish in the 50m freestyle (24.15 for 5th place), C1 still came away with two Olympic medals with one world record from her 3rd Olympic Games. It would later be revealed post-Rio that she was plagued with a hernia, an injury she addressed with a surgery earlier this year. Still, with her still rising career full of eye-popping times and typically consistent performances, Cate has rightfully earned the title of Oceania’s Female Swimmer of the Year.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
In no particular order
Madeline (Maddie) Groves – After Cate Campbell‘s misses in her individual events combined with other Aussie stars not making it happen on the individual front, Groves stepped in just when the green and gold needed it most at the 2016 Olympic Games. Headed into Rio, Groves had been the Aussie National Champion in the 200m butterfly event for 3 consecutive years and had built up momentum behind her with a 5th place finish at the 2015 FINA World Championships. Competing in Rio, she set the stage beautifully in her prelims and semi-finals swims, progressively improving from 2:07.02 in prelims to 2:05.66, before ultimately taking the silver in the final with a personal best of 2:04.88. That mark was just .03 off of gold and helped raise the spirits of the Aussie contingency into their final days of Olympic competition. The St. Peters Western swimmer also earned silver swimming prelims on her nation’s 4×100 medley relay.
Emma McKeon – At just 22 years of age, Emma McKeon can confidently say she had a successful 2016 Olympic Games. Although she was visibly disappointed with her 7th place finish in the women’s 100m butterfly event (57.05), she raced her way to a big bronze medal in the ultra-competitive 200m freestyle. With such company as Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, America’s Katie Ledecky, and Italy’s Federica Pellegrini, McKeon held her own, blasting the fastest opening 100m split in 55.37. She held on to claim bronze and touch just outside her own personal best to bring hardware back to Australia. McKeon was also instrumental in her nation’s 4x100m freestyle world record/gold medal-winning outing, leading them off in 53.41. McKeon’s split of 1:55.81 also edged Australia to silver in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay, and she was also scored a solid fly leg in the silver medal medley relay. All told, McKeon swam away with one individual bronze, one relay gold/world record and two relay silvers.