Shane Gould

Shane Elizabeth Gould, MBE (born 23 November 1956) is an Australian former competition swimmer who won three gold medals, a silver medal and a bronze at the 1972 Summer Olympics.

Gould was born in Sydney, New South Wales, on the first day of competition of the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. She moved to Fiji with her family at the age of 18 months. By the age of six, she was a competent swimmer. She attended primary school at St. Peters Lutheran College, Brisbane, where a sporting house is named after her, and secondary school at Turramurra High School, Sydney where a sporting house is also named after her and fellow Olympian Gail Neall. She was trained by leading coaches Forbes and Ursula Carlile and their assistant Tom Green, and won all her world swimming titles while a teenager, travelling widely.

Gould spent most of the years after ending competitive swimming out of the public eye. She married Neil Innes at 18, became a Christian, and lived on a working farm near Margaret River, southwestern Australia. She farmed, and taught horseriding and surfing, making very few public appearances. She has four children, and now three grandchildren.

Her marriage ended after 22 years, coinciding with a return to public life, and she married Milton Nelms in 2007. She now divides her time between Bicheno, Tasmania and Sydney, coaches swimmers, and still swims in Masters competitions.

Gould returned to study in the late 2000s. She studied at the Sydney Film School (2007, Cert IV documentary film, Digital Filmmaking) and was awarded a Master of Environmental Management (2010, with a thesis on the social uses and functions of public swimming pools), and Master of Contemporary Art (2012, with a video piece Loops and Lines). Both degrees are from the University of Tasmania. Gould is also a photographer with works on display with the Art of the Olympians, .

At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Gould won three gold medals, setting a world record in each race. She also won a bronze and a silver medal.

She is the only person, male or female, to hold every world freestyle record from 100 metres to 1500 metres and the 200-metre individual medley world record simultaneously, which she did from 12 December 1971 to 1 September 1972. She is the first female swimmer ever to win three Olympic gold medals in world record time, and the first swimmer, male or female, to win Olympic medals in five individual events in a single Olympics. She is also the only Australian to win three individual gold medals at a single Olympics.

At the age of 17, she retired from competitive swimming, citing pressures placed upon her by her success and media profile.

Over two decades later, Gould returned to competitive swimming at Masters level. She set Australian Masters records (40–44 years 100m, 200 m, and 400 m freestyle, and 100 m butterfly) and 45–49 years (50 m butterfly, 100 m and 200 m freestyle). In 2003 she broke the world record for the 45–49 years 200 m individual medley in 2:38.13 (beating the 1961 world record for all ages).

• Gould, S. 1999, updated 2003. Tumble Turns. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780732277673 (autobiography)
• Gould, S. 2004. Fit for 50+. Ibis Publishing Australia.
• Gould, S. 2007. Appreciating swimming: beauty and instruction with underwater swimmer photographs. Visual Communication 6: 170-179. doi:10.1177/1470357207077180

• Best Sportswoman in the World (1971)
• ABC Sportswoman of the Year (1971)
• ABC Sportswoman of the Year (1972)
• Australian of the Year (1972)
• International Swimming Hall of Fame "Honor Swimmer" (1977)
• Member of the Order of the British Empire (1981)
• Sport Australia Hall of Fame (1985)
• Olympic Order (1994)
• Legend of Australian Sport (1995)
• Australian Sports Medal (2000)
• Centenary Medal (2001)
• Olympic Torch bearer at opening ceremony of 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. She carried the Olympic Torch at the stadium, as one of the runners for the final segment, before the lighting of the Olympic Flame.

In 1993, the State Transit Authority named a RiverCat ferry after Gould.