Elka Whalan (born 20 October 1981 in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

) is a retired Australia

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 swimmer who competed in the 2000 Sydney Olympics

Australia at the 2000 Summer Olympics

Australia was the host nation for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Australian athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic Games.-Medalists:-Archery:...

 and 2004 Athens Olympics

Australia at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Australia competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece with 482 competitors, which was the second largest Olympic team. Australian athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic Games since 1896...

. Graham specialised in the 200m and 400m freestyle events, also swimming the 800m freestyle. She represented Australia at numerous international meets, including the Pan Pacific Championships

Pan Pacific Swimming Championships

The Pan Pacific Swimming Championships is a long course swimming event first held in 1985. The meet was initially staged biennially , to allow for an international championship-level meet in the non-Olympic and non-World Championships years...

, World Swimming Championships in 2001

2001 World Aquatics Championships

rightThe 2001 World Aquatics Championships or the 9th FINA World Swimming Championships were held in Fukuoka, Japan between 16 July and 29 July 2001....

 and 2003

2003 World Aquatics Championships

Barcelona, Spain was the host city of the X FINA World Aquatics Championships or the 10th FINA World Championships in Aquatics, which were held from July 12 until July 27, 2003....

, and the 2002 Commonwealth Games

Aquatics at the 2002 Commonwealth Games

The aquatics events at the 2002 Commonwealth Games were held at the Manchester Aquatics Centre and were divided into 3 separate disciplines, with medals awarded in 54 events:* Diving * Swimming * Synchronized swimming -Men:-Women:-Men:...

.

She was a member of Australia's 4x200m freestyle relay team that finished first at the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka, only to be disqualified when she and the rest of the relay jumped into the pool to celebrate before all the other teams in the heat had finished.

In 2007 she claimed that she was offered performance enhancing drugs from another member of the Australian swimming team before the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, but refused to name the person.

Graham retired from swimming in May 2006 and is now involved in the media, modelling and corporate speaking.

External links

• Graham's website: www.elkagraham.com