Cate Campbell is an Australian swimmer who won two bronze medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics

2008 Summer Olympics

The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...

 in Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

. Her family moved from Malawi to Australia in 2001 and it was shortly after this Campbell took up competitive swimming. In 2007, she went to the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney and won two gold medals in the 50 m individual freestyle and 4 x 100 m freestyle relay. She followed this up in 2008 with a victory in the 50 m freestyle at the Japan Open, beating compatriot Libby Trickett and setting new Australian and Commonwealth records with her time of 24.48 seconds. She is coached by Simon Cusack at the Indooropilly swimming club. Cusack has a long swimming pedigree, being the son of Olympic Bronze Medalist Robert Cusack

Robert Cusack

Robert Cusack was an Australian butterfly and freestyle swimmer of the 1960s and 1970s, who won a bronze medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics....

 and the great nephew of Qld swimming hall of fame Coach Arthur Cusack

Arthur Cusack

Arthur Cusack was an Australian Olympic swimming coach in the 1950s and 1960s.-Early career:...

. She currently studies at Kenmore State High School in Brisbane, Queensland. Cate is the eldest of five siblings. Her sister Bronte is a promising swimmer.

2008 Olympics

Cate was the fastest qualifier into the 50m 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 Lisbeth Trickett. In Semi-Final 2, Campbell placed second in a time of 24.42 seconds, placing her in Lane 5 for the final. In the final, she placed 3rd in a time of 24.17.

2009 World Championship

Despite doing a time trial of 53.40, with her 100m performance of 56.39 from 5 months earlier in March and having hip problems, she was scratched from the women's 4x100 freestyle. However she still earned the right to swim the 50m freestyle from her runner-up swim at the world championships trials. In Rome she finished with a bronze, beating compatriot Libby Trickett and ending just 0.02s off the Commonwealth Record.