Susan O'Neill, AM (born 2 August 1973) is an Australian former competitive swimmer from Brisbane, Queensland, nicknamed "Madame Butterfly". She achieved eight Olympic Games medals during her swimming career.
Susan O'Neill, AM (born 2 August 1973) is an Australian former competitive swimmer from Brisbane, Queensland, nicknamed "Madame Butterfly". She achieved eight Olympic Games medals during her swimming career.
O'Neill was born on 2 August 1973 in Mackay, Queensland, to Trish and John O'Neill. She has two siblings, a brother and a sister. Her family moved to Brisbane and she was educated at Lourdes Hill College (LHC) in Hawthorne. [1] Whilst at LHC, O'Neill excelled in sport, setting school records in 50 m and 100 m butterfly, freestyle, and backstroke. She was also LHC cross country champion and set records for the 13 years 800 m in 1986 and for the 15 years 400 m in 1988 for athletics. All these records still stood as of 2011. [1]
O'Neill won the 200m butterfly at the 1996 Summer Olympics and the 200m freestyle at the 2000 Summer Olympics. She has won 35 Australian titles, 8 Olympic medals including 2 gold, and 24 gold medals in major international competitions. Only Emma McKeon, Ian Thorpe and Leisel Jones have won more Olympic medals for Australia.
At her international debut at the 1990 Commonwealth Games, she won two medals (gold and silver), and continued to add to her medals cache at every international competition until her final Olympics. In front of a home crowd at the 2000 Olympic Games Trials she broke the 19-year standing world record of another "Madame Butterfly", Mary T. Meagher, in the 200m butterfly, but was beaten in an upset at the 2000 Olympic Games by American Misty Hyman.
She trained under Bernie Wakefield until 1994, then Scott Volkers at the Commercial Swimming Club in Brisbane.
O'Neill is an ambassador for the Fred Hollows Foundation. [2]
She provided commentary at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She was the Oceania athletes' representative on the International Olympic Committee from 2000 to 2005. When she resigned her membership she was replaced by Barbara Kendall. [3]
On 10 March 2007 during the 12th FINA World Championship, O'Neill was honoured by the dedication of the temporary swimming pool in the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne named after her for the duration of the competition.
In 2015, O'Neill made regular appearances on Ash, Kip & Luttsy for several years before officially joining the team in 2019, at which point the show was renamed Ash, Luttsy & Susie . [4] She continued as a co-host until November 2024.
In 2025, O'Neill will remain with NOVA Entertainment, working on shows across the Nova Network as a guest presenter for both Breakfast and National shows next year. [5]
On 14 February 2018, O'Neill released a single entitled "My Heart Goes Boom". [6]
In May 2019, O'Neill was announced as Australia's joint Deputy Chef de Mission for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, [7] with fellow Olympians, Evelyn Halls and Kim Brennan.
O'Neill married Cliff Fairley, who works as an ophthalmologist, in 1998. They have two children.
O'Neill and her husband, Cliff Fairley, help generously to raise awareness for the Fred Hollows Foundation, and are one of its most distinguished ambassadors. [19] The Fred Hollows Foundation is an international nonprofit organisation that educates surgeons on how to cure avoidable blindness within underserved communities and countries. [19]
Kieren John Perkins is an Australian former freestyle swimmer. He specialised in the 1500-metre freestyle and won successive Olympic gold medals in this event in the 1990s. He won his first at the 1992 Olympics which he won in world record time and then at the 1996 Olympics when he defended his title. In total he won four Olympic medals.
Glynis Leanne Nunn-Cearns OAM is a former Australian heptathlete, the first Olympic champion in the event. Born in Toowoomba, Queensland, she began competing in athletics at age 9, when she was a student at Toowoomba South State School.
Petria Ann Thomas, 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.
Jessica Deglau was a member of the Canadian Olympic team in swimming in the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games. Deglau swam for the Vancouver Pacific Swim Club in her youth, until becoming a member of the national team. In addition to swimming on the national team, she swam for and graduated from the University of British Columbia.
Hayley Jane Lewis, OAM, is an Australian former competitive swimmer best known for winning five gold medals and one bronze medal at the 1990 Commonwealth Games as a 15-year-old.
Duncan John D'Arcy Armstrong is an Australian former competitive swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder. Armstrong is best remembered for winning a gold and silver medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics.
Jonathan Scott Sieben, OAM is an Australian former butterfly swimmer of the 1980s, who won gold in the 200-metre butterfly at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles Olympics.
Tracey Lee Wickham is an Australian former middle distance swimmer. Wickham was the World Champion for the 400 m and 800 m freestyle in 1978, and won gold in both events at the 1978 and 1982 Commonwealth Games. She is a former world record holder for the 400 m, 800 m and 1500 m freestyle. Despite her success in the pool, Wickham has battled hardship and personal tragedy throughout her life.
Lorraine Joyce Thurlow,, née Crapp, is a former Olympic swimming champion representing Australia. In world swimming history, Crapp earned a place as the first woman to break the five-minute barrier in the 400 m freestyle.
Lisa Gaye Curry, also known by her married name Lisa Curry-Kenny, is an Australian former competition swimmer.
Tracey Lee Belbin OAM is a former field hockey player from Australia, who represented her native country at two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. There she won the gold medal with the Women's National Team.
The women's 200-metre freestyle event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 18–19 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney.
Priya Naree Cooper, is an Australian world champion disabled swimmer, winning nine Paralympic gold medals as well as world records and world championships. She competed in the Australian swimming team at the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Summer Paralympics with an S8 classification. She was twice the co-captain of the Australian Paralympic team, including at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, and carried the Australian flag at the closing ceremonies for the 1992 and 1996 Summer Paralympics. Cooper has cerebral palsy and spends much of her time in a wheelchair. She attended university, working on a course in health management. After she ended her competitive Paralympic career, she became a commentator, and covered the swimming events at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Siobhan Bethany Paton, OAM is an Australian Paralympic swimmer who was born in Sydney. Paton has had an intellectual disability from birth which was a consequence a lack of oxygen. Paton decided to become a swimmer after finding out she has a connective tissue disorder and that swimming would assist in the strengthening of her joints. Siobhan initially began competing with non-disabled athletes and only in 1997 did she compete in a competition for athletes with disabilities, where she won seven gold medals and one silver medal. As of 2004, she holds thirteen world records in her disability class of S14.
Jocelyn "Joyce" Mavis Lester, is an Australian softball player and coach. A catcher and outfielder, she joined the Australia women's national softball team in 1977, and captained it from 1985 until its bronze medal win at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, when she retired from international competition.. She played professionally for the first time in Japan from 1996 to 1999, and thereafter coached softball in both Japan and Australia. She was named to the world all-star softball team in 1986 and 1989, and has been inducted into the Queensland, Australian and world softball halls of fame.
While not being urged to avoid competition, women had few opportunities to compete in sport in Australia until the 1880s. After that date, new sporting facilities were being built around the country and many new sport clubs were created. For swimming, the rapid expansion of facilities took place during the 1880s and the 1890s. Compared to the past when the whole of the swimming community was made up of males, currently 55 percent of the Australian swimming membership is made up of women. Not only do females dominate swimming in the pool but there are more than 5,500 female coaches in the swimming world in Australian and over 2,000 female technical officials.
Katrina Lea Webb-Denis, OAM is an Australian Paralympic athlete with cerebral palsy. She has won gold, silver and bronze medals in athletics at three Paralympic Games.
Brendan John Burkett, OAM is an Australian swimmer who won five medals at four Paralympics and a silver medal at the 1994 Victoria Commonwealth Games.
Jacqueline Rose "Jacqui" Freney is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. At the 2012 London Games, she broke Siobhan Paton's Australian record of six gold medals at a single Games by winning her seventh gold medal in the Women's 400 m Freestyle S7. She finished the Games with eight gold medals, more than any other participant in the Games.
Kayla Clarke is an Indigenous Australian swimmer who represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in swimming, and has medalled at the 2010 Australian Disability Age Group Nationals, and 2010 International Paralympic Swimming World Championships, 2009 Queensland State Championships, 2009 Queensland Secondary School Titles, and 2009 Global Games. She competes in a number of events, including the 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 100m breaststroke, 100m butterfly and 200m individual medley.
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