Eamon Sullivan
Encyclopedia
Eamon Wade Sullivan is an Australia
n sprint swimmer
.
and came second in 100 m in his age group, and swam for Australia at Trans Tasman
series with no dramatic result.
In April 2003 at Brisbane
in the Fisher & Paykel Australian Age Championships, he won gold in the 100 m freestyle in 51.34 s and a bronze in the in 4×100 m freestyle.
At the 2004 Olympic trials he grabbed a spot in the 4x100 Freestyle relay team by finishing fourth in the final. At the 2004 Olympic Games
in Athens
Eamon as the youngest male in the Australian Olympic Team and improved his Personal Best in the heat time that gained him a spot in the final of the 4x100 m freestyle, in which Australia was dethroned in the event they had won 4 years ago in Sydney.
In July 2005 he was sidelined with a hip injury and missed the World Aquatics Championships in Canada
.
In March 2006 he won gold in 4x100 m medley and silver in 4×100 m freestyle at Melbourne
2006 Commonwealth Games
setting a new Commonwealth record. He also anchored the 4x100m freestyle relay to capture silver. In December, at the Australian National Championships he broke the 50 m national record in 22.00 s and became the fastest swimmer Australia had ever seen.
In July 2007 Sullivan had an alerting win in 50 m free at the Santa Clara International Invitational Grand Prix in California
in 22.30 s. In the same month he clocked 21.62 s to slash 0.07 s off Brett Hawke
's seven year old 50 m Short Course Australian record at Telstra Grand Prix2 in Canberra
. He set another National Record at FINA/ARENA World Cup
at SOPAC
in the heats of the 100 m freestyle clocking a time of 47.29 s shaving 0.26 s of his previous best set in Canberra earlier that year.
Eamon has also sustained several injuries throughout his career. He has struggled with hip problems and has had allegedly 6 hip operations, along with numerous shoulder sprains.
Leading off Australia in the Men's 4 x 100 m Freestyle Relay final he set a new world record for the 100 m Freestyle with a time of 47.24 seconds, collecting bronze in the Relay in what is largely quoted as the greatest swimming relay race in history. In the subsequent individual 100 m Freestyle, Sullivan emerged as the fastest swimmer from the heats and semi-finals, Alain Bernard
of France re-claimed the World Record set by Sullivan in the relay with a time of 47.20 s. Five minutes later Sullivan reclaimed the 100 m Freestyle World Record in the second semi-final in time of 47.05 s. In the finals Sullivan claimed the silver medal, edged out by Bernard by 0.11 s. In the 50m final, Sullivan finished in a disappointing 6th place.
Just two weeks before the 13th FINA World Championships
in Rome
, Sullivan was ruled out from competing due to a virus. 2 months later, Sullivan's training camp came to an abrupt end when he was rushed into a clinic for an appendectomy. He was attending a high-altitude training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona, when he was taken ill. Surgery went well, according to reports, Sullivan will race as planned at the Stockholm, Berlin and Singapore rounds of the World Cup assuming his recovery proceeds as doctors predict.
. He timed 21.56 to slash 0.08 off the 21.64 set by the Russian Alexander Popov
at Moscow
in June 2000. However his time was beaten to 21.50 by French Alain Bernard
on 23 March 2008, He significantly improved his last PB standing at 22.00 s. He declared he had had positive feelings of being in a good form for the race earlier on. Shortly after, he swam for West Coast
club in the 4×100 m freestyle Relay and clocked 48.11 s, cutting 0.07 off Michael Klim
record set for Australian relay at the 2000 Olympics. His time was also a Commonwealth record, knocking 0.06 s off the previous time gained by South African Roland Schoeman.
On 27 March 2008 at Australian Olympic Trials at the same venue he regained his title as the 50 m freestyle world record holder with a time of 21.41 s, then broke his own record a day later with 21.28 s. He was bettered by Frédérick Bousquet
with a time of 20.94 s on 26 April 2009.
On 11 August 2008, he broke the 100 meter freestyle world record in the first leg of the 4x100 relay with a time of 47.24, Australia finished under the previous world record, broke the Oceania record and finished third in the relay in a time of 3.09.91. Before the Olympics, the Australian record was 3.13.67 in winning the event at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. On 13 August 2008, after losing his world record to the previous holder Alain Bernard
, Sullivan clocked 47.05 s to set another world record.
, however they ended their two year relationship in July 2008, just prior to the Beijing Olympics. The couple lived in separate states of Australia, (Sullivan in WA and Rice in Queensland
) and said the stress of living so far apart and the impending Olympics caused the split of Australia's "Glamour Couple" who once posed together in highly publicised underwear advertisements. Sullivan won the first series of Celebrity MasterChef Australia
beating Kirk Pengilly and Rachael Finch. In 2011, Sullivan competed in the third season of the Channel Seven
television series Australia's Greatest Athlete
. He also made a guest appearance in the third season of MasterChef Australia
, cooking the Chocolate Délice dish that earned him the title of Celebrity MasterChef in 2009.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n sprint swimmer
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
.
Career
In April 2002 at the Australian Age Championships, Sullivan won the 50 m freestyleFreestyle swimming
Freestyle is an unregulated swimming style used in swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. The front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle race, as this style is generally the fastest...
and came second in 100 m in his age group, and swam for Australia at Trans Tasman
Trans-Tasman
Trans-Tasman is an adjective used primarily in Australia and New Zealand, which signifies an interrelationship between both countries. Its name originates from the Tasman Sea which lies between the two countries...
series with no dramatic result.
In April 2003 at Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
in the Fisher & Paykel Australian Age Championships, he won gold in the 100 m freestyle in 51.34 s and a bronze in the in 4×100 m freestyle.
At the 2004 Olympic trials he grabbed a spot in the 4x100 Freestyle relay team by finishing fourth in the final. At the 2004 Olympic Games
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
Eamon as the youngest male in the Australian Olympic Team and improved his Personal Best in the heat time that gained him a spot in the final of the 4x100 m freestyle, in which Australia was dethroned in the event they had won 4 years ago in Sydney.
In July 2005 he was sidelined with a hip injury and missed the World Aquatics Championships in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
In March 2006 he won gold in 4x100 m medley and silver in 4×100 m freestyle at Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
2006 Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....
setting a new Commonwealth record. He also anchored the 4x100m freestyle relay to capture silver. In December, at the Australian National Championships he broke the 50 m national record in 22.00 s and became the fastest swimmer Australia had ever seen.
In July 2007 Sullivan had an alerting win in 50 m free at the Santa Clara International Invitational Grand Prix in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in 22.30 s. In the same month he clocked 21.62 s to slash 0.07 s off Brett Hawke
Brett Hawke
Brett Hawke is a retired sprint swimmer who competed for Australia at the 2000 Summer Olympics and 2004 Summer Olympics. He is now the head coach of Auburn University's swimming and diving program....
's seven year old 50 m Short Course Australian record at Telstra Grand Prix2 in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
. He set another National Record at FINA/ARENA World Cup
FINA Swimming World Cup
The FINA Swimming World Cup is an international series of short course swimming meets organized by FINA, the International Federation for swimming...
at SOPAC
Sydney International Aquatic Centre
The Sydney International Aquatic Centre is a swimming venue in Sydney, Australia. For the 2000 Summer Olympics, it hosted the swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, the medal events for water polo, and the swimming portion of the modern pentathlon competitions...
in the heats of the 100 m freestyle clocking a time of 47.29 s shaving 0.26 s of his previous best set in Canberra earlier that year.
Eamon has also sustained several injuries throughout his career. He has struggled with hip problems and has had allegedly 6 hip operations, along with numerous shoulder sprains.
Leading off Australia in the Men's 4 x 100 m Freestyle Relay final he set a new world record for the 100 m Freestyle with a time of 47.24 seconds, collecting bronze in the Relay in what is largely quoted as the greatest swimming relay race in history. In the subsequent individual 100 m Freestyle, Sullivan emerged as the fastest swimmer from the heats and semi-finals, Alain Bernard
Alain Bernard
Alain Bernard is a French swimmer from Aubagne, Bouches-du-Rhône.Bernard won three medals in the 2008 Summer Olympics. After competing on the silver medal-winning French 4×100 m relay team, Bernard won the gold medal in the men's 100 m freestyle event.He held the same 100 m...
of France re-claimed the World Record set by Sullivan in the relay with a time of 47.20 s. Five minutes later Sullivan reclaimed the 100 m Freestyle World Record in the second semi-final in time of 47.05 s. In the finals Sullivan claimed the silver medal, edged out by Bernard by 0.11 s. In the 50m final, Sullivan finished in a disappointing 6th place.
Just two weeks before the 13th FINA World Championships
2009 World Aquatics Championships
The 2009 World Aquatics Championships or the XIII FINA World Championships were celebrated in Rome, Italy in 2009 from July 17 to August 2. The 2009 Championships featured competition in all 5 aquatics disciplines: diving, swimming, open water swimming, synchronized swimming and water polo.Rome won...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Sullivan was ruled out from competing due to a virus. 2 months later, Sullivan's training camp came to an abrupt end when he was rushed into a clinic for an appendectomy. He was attending a high-altitude training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona, when he was taken ill. Surgery went well, according to reports, Sullivan will race as planned at the Stockholm, Berlin and Singapore rounds of the World Cup assuming his recovery proceeds as doctors predict.
Medal achievements
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World records
Sullivan became the fastest swimmer in history after he broke the world 50 m freestyle record at the 2008 NSW Open Championships at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic CentreSydney International Aquatic Centre
The Sydney International Aquatic Centre is a swimming venue in Sydney, Australia. For the 2000 Summer Olympics, it hosted the swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, the medal events for water polo, and the swimming portion of the modern pentathlon competitions...
. He timed 21.56 to slash 0.08 off the 21.64 set by the Russian Alexander Popov
Alexander Popov (swimmer)
Aleksandr Vladimirovich Popov ; is a Russian former Olympic gold-winning swimmer, widely regarded as one of the greatest sprint freestyle swimmers of all time.-Career:Born in Lesnoy, Sverdlovsk Oblast , Popov began swimming at age 8 at...
at Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
in June 2000. However his time was beaten to 21.50 by French Alain Bernard
Alain Bernard
Alain Bernard is a French swimmer from Aubagne, Bouches-du-Rhône.Bernard won three medals in the 2008 Summer Olympics. After competing on the silver medal-winning French 4×100 m relay team, Bernard won the gold medal in the men's 100 m freestyle event.He held the same 100 m...
on 23 March 2008, He significantly improved his last PB standing at 22.00 s. He declared he had had positive feelings of being in a good form for the race earlier on. Shortly after, he swam for West Coast
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
club in the 4×100 m freestyle Relay and clocked 48.11 s, cutting 0.07 off Michael Klim
Michael Klim
Michael Klim OAM is a Polish-born Australian swimmer. He was born in Gdynia. He was educated at the University High School, Melbourne and Wesley College, Melbourne where he is currently employed as the College's elite Head Coach of swimming...
record set for Australian relay at the 2000 Olympics. His time was also a Commonwealth record, knocking 0.06 s off the previous time gained by South African Roland Schoeman.
On 27 March 2008 at Australian Olympic Trials at the same venue he regained his title as the 50 m freestyle world record holder with a time of 21.41 s, then broke his own record a day later with 21.28 s. He was bettered by Frédérick Bousquet
Frédérick Bousquet
Frédérick Bousquet is a freestyle and butterfly swimmer from France. He was the holder of the world record in the 50 m freestyle in a time of 20.94 in long course, set on April 26, 2009 at the final of the French Championships...
with a time of 20.94 s on 26 April 2009.
On 11 August 2008, he broke the 100 meter freestyle world record in the first leg of the 4x100 relay with a time of 47.24, Australia finished under the previous world record, broke the Oceania record and finished third in the relay in a time of 3.09.91. Before the Olympics, the Australian record was 3.13.67 in winning the event at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. On 13 August 2008, after losing his world record to the previous holder Alain Bernard
Alain Bernard
Alain Bernard is a French swimmer from Aubagne, Bouches-du-Rhône.Bernard won three medals in the 2008 Summer Olympics. After competing on the silver medal-winning French 4×100 m relay team, Bernard won the gold medal in the men's 100 m freestyle event.He held the same 100 m...
, Sullivan clocked 47.05 s to set another world record.
Personal life
Sullivan was romantically linked with fellow Australian swimmer and individual world record holder Stephanie RiceStephanie Rice
Stephanie Louise Rice OAM is an Australian swimmer. She currently holds the world record in the 400 m women's individual medley, and won three gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Rice is trained by Michael Bohl from the St Peters Western Swimming Club in Brisbane...
, however they ended their two year relationship in July 2008, just prior to the Beijing Olympics. The couple lived in separate states of Australia, (Sullivan in WA and Rice in Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
) and said the stress of living so far apart and the impending Olympics caused the split of Australia's "Glamour Couple" who once posed together in highly publicised underwear advertisements. Sullivan won the first series of Celebrity MasterChef Australia
Celebrity MasterChef Australia
Celebrity MasterChef Australia is an Australian competitive cooking game show. It is spin-off of MasterChef Australia, itself an adaptation of the British show MasterChef, and features celebrity contestants...
beating Kirk Pengilly and Rachael Finch. In 2011, Sullivan competed in the third season of the Channel Seven
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
television series Australia's Greatest Athlete
Australia's Greatest Athlete (season 3)
The third season of Australia's Greatest Athlete was broadcast on the Seven Network and was hosted by Mark Beretta, with last season's competitor Wendell Sailor...
. He also made a guest appearance in the third season of MasterChef Australia
MasterChef Australia (season 3)
The third season of MasterChef Australia premiered on Sunday, 1 May 2011 at 7:30 pm on Network Ten. Judges George Calombaris, Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston returned from the previous series and were joined by Matt Moran. The third season was won by Kate Bracks who defeated Michael Weldon in the...
, cooking the Chocolate Délice dish that earned him the title of Celebrity MasterChef in 2009.