1. Shane Gould won three gold medals, a silver medal and a bronze, at the 1972 Summer Olympics, becoming the first woman swimmer to win five individual medals.
24 Facts About Shane Gould
1. 2.
Shane Gould returned in the 1990s as a swimming mentor and competitor, and again competed in 2003, specializing in the 200m Individual Medley.
3.
Shane Gould later returned for Australian Survivor: All Stars, but was voted out first.
4.
Shane Gould was born in Sydney, New South Wales, on the first day of competition of the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne.
5.
Shane Gould moved to Fiji with her family at the age of 18 months.
6.
Shane Gould attended primary school at Brisbane's St Peters Lutheran College, currently the top-rated swim school in Australia.
7.
Shane Gould attended secondary school at Turramurra High School, Sydney, where a sporting house is named after her and fellow Olympian Gail Neall.
8.
Shane Gould was trained by leading coaches Ursula and Forbes Carlile and their assistant Tom Green at the Forbes and Ursula Carlile Swimming Organization.
9.
Shane Gould won all of her world swimming titles while a teenager, travelling widely.
10.
Shane Gould helped develop the crawl stroke, focusing on a high speed two beat kick which emphasized the strong use of the arms, a technique studied and adopted by Gould.
11.
At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, Shane Gould won three gold medals in the 200 and 400-meter freestyle, and the 200-meter individual medley, setting a world record in each race.
12.
Shane Gould won a silver in the 800 and a bronze in the 100-meter freestyle events.
13.
Shane Gould 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.
14.
Shane Gould 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.
15.
Shane Gould is the only Australian to win three individual gold medals at a single Olympics.
16.
Over two decades later, Shane Gould returned to competitive swimming at the Masters level.
17.
Shane Gould studied at the Sydney Film School and was awarded a Master of Environmental Management, and a Master of Contemporary Art.
18.
Shane Gould is a photographer with works on display with the Art of the Olympians.
19.
In 1999, Shane Gould published her autobiography Tumble Turns: An Autobiography.
20.
Shane Gould later returned for Australian Survivor: All Stars, but was voted out first, finishing in 24th place.
21.
Shane Gould spent most of the years after ending competitive swimming out of the public eye.
22.
Shane Gould married Neil Innes at 18, became a Christian, and lived on a working farm near Margaret River in Western Australia's South West.
23.
Shane Gould farmed and taught horseriding and surfing, making very few public appearances.
24.
On 10 October 2023, Shane Gould was one of 25 Australians of the Year who signed an open letter supporting the Yes vote in the Indigenous Voice referendum, initiated by psychiatrist Patrick McGorry.