Cate Campbell

At 32 years old, Cate Campbell has this physical status:

Cate was the fastest qualifier into the 50 metre freestyle semi-finals, after recording a time of 24.20 seconds. This placed her in Lane 4 in the semi-finals against the world record holder Libby Trickett. In the second semi-final Cate placed second in a time of 24.42 seconds, placing her in Lane 5 for the final. In the final, she placed third in a time of 24.17. She also won bronze as part of Australia's women's 4 x 100 metre freestyle relay team.

Despite doing a time trial of 53.40 seconds, with her 100-metre performance of 56.39 from 5 months earlier in March and having hip problems, she was scratched from the women's 4 × 100 metre freestyle. However, she still earned the right to swim the 50 metre freestyle from her runner-up swim at the world championships trials. In Rome she finished with a bronze, beating compatriot Libby Trickett and ending 0.02 of a second off the Commonwealth Record.

In 2010, Cate and her sister Bronte caught glandular fever; they worked against post-viral fatigue as they trained to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Cate Campbell was a member of the Australian team that won the gold medal in the 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay at the Games. Before the individual 50 metre event, she contracted acute pancreatitis. In the women's 50 metre freestyle she and Bronte swam in the same heat, finishing third and second respectively, and qualifying for the semi-final in tenth and ninth place respectively.

At the 2013 Australian Swimming Championships she won gold in both the 50 and 100 metre freestyle events, qualifying for the 2013 World Aquatics Championships. At the World Championships, she teamed up with her sister Bronte, Emma McKeon and Alicia Coutts in the 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay where they won the silver medal, finishing 0.12 of a second behind the American team. On the sixth day of competition, Campbell won the 100 metre freestyle world title with a time of 52.34 seconds. Campbell finished ahead of Sarah Sjöström of Sweden and defending Olympic champion, Ranomi Kromowidjojo.

At the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, she won gold in the 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay, beating the Dutch and US teams by a comfortable lead. On the 100 metre freestyle event she finished third, behind Bronte Campbell and Sarah Sjöström. At the 2015 Australian Short Course Swimming Championships in Sydney, she broke the short course 100 metre freestyle world record in a time of 50.91, becoming the first woman to go under 51 seconds.

At the 2016 Australian Swimming Championships she won the 100 metre freestyle to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics. She broke the Australian record in the 50 metre freestyle in the semifinals with a time of 23.93, which was the fastest time ever in a textile swimsuit. She went on to win the final and qualify for the Olympics in the 50 metre freestyle, improving her time to 23.84. In addition, Campbell also qualified for the Olympic team in both the 4 × 100 m freestyle (winning gold in a new world-record time) & 4 × 100 m medley relays. At the 2016 Australian Grand Prix meet, she broke the long course 100 metre freestyle world record in a time of 52.06. This was 0.01 seconds faster than the previous world record set by Britta Steffen during the super suit era.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics Campbell won a gold medal as a member of the Australian women's 4 × 100 m freestyle team. The team, which included Campbell's sister Bronte, set a world record time of 3:30.65. This was followed by a silver medal as a member of the women's 4 × 100 m medley team. In the Olympic final of the 100 m freestyle, Campbell was the favourite, however after leading at the first turn, she finished 6th in 53.24, despite breaking the Olympic record in the heats and semifinals with times of 52.78 and 52.71, respectively. She narrowly missed a medal in the 50 m freestyle final, finishing 5th.

After the Rio Olympics, Campbell took 2017 off from swimming competitively in order to recover from disappointment. She used most of the year to do "normal things" other people her age might do, taking her first real break from training since the age of 9. At the 2017 Australian Short Course Swimming Championships she broke the 100 metre freestyle world record in a time of 50.25, improving the previous mark by 0.33 seconds.

Campbell returned to competition for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, winning gold and breaking the world record in the women's 4 × 100m freestyle relay, alongside sister Bronte, Emma McKeon and Shayna Jack. She then won gold for the women's 50m freestyle, with a time of 23.78, breaking a Commonwealth record. She also won gold for the women's 50m butterfly, despite having no prior experience in the stroke. She stated she opted for the event to "shake things up" and "to try something new and different". Campbell claimed the silver medal for the 100m freestyle with a time of 52.69, touching behind her sister Bronte, who had a time of 52.27.

Campbell qualified for her 4th Olympics, Tokyo 2020, becoming the third Australian swimmer to do so, after Leisel Jones and Emily Seebohm. On 7 July 2021, she was announced as one of Australia's flagbearers for the Opening Ceremony, alongside basketball player, Patty Mills, and becoming the first Australian female swimmer to do so. Alongside Emma McKeon, Meg Harris, and sister Bronte, Campbell won gold in the women's 4 x 100m freestyle relay, again breaking Australia's previous record. This also marked the 3rd time Campbell has won gold in the same event. She then went on to win the bronze medal in the 100m freestyle, behind Emma McKeon (gold) and Hong Kong's Siobhan Haughey (silver).

On day 9 of the Olympics, Campbell finished 7th in the 50m freestyle final. Half an hour later, she and the Australian team won gold in the women's medley relay, alongside Kaylee McKeown, Chelsea Hodges and Emma McKeon.

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