Eamon Sullivan

Eamon Sullivan

Sullivan being interviewed at Wagga Wagga
Personal information
Full name	Eamon Wade Sullivan
Nickname(s)	Sully, Eamon The Daemon, Nemo
Nationality	Australia
Born	30 August 1985 (1985-08-30) Perth, Australia
Height	1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	78 kg (170 lb; 12.3 st)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Club	West Coast
Medal record Men's swimming Competitor for Australia Olympic Games Silver 2008 Beijing 100 m freestyle Silver 2008 Beijing 4×100 m medley Bronze 2008 Beijing 4×100 m freestyle World Championships – Long Course Gold 2007 Melbourne 4×100 m medley Gold 2011 Shanghai 4×100 m freestyle Bronze 2007 Melbourne 100 m freestyle Commonwealth Games Gold 2006 Melbourne 4×100 m medley Silver 2006 Melbourne 4×100 m freestyle Gold 2010 Delhi 4×100 m freestyle Gold 2010 Delhi 4×100 m medley Bronze 2010 Delhi 100 m freestyle Pan Pacific Championships Silver 2010 Irvine 4×100 m freestyle Bronze 2006 Victoria 100 m freestyle Bronze 2006 Victoria 4×100 m medley Bronze 2006 Victoria 4×100 m freestyle

Eamon Wade Sullivan (born 30 August 1985 in Perth, Western Australia) is an Australian sprint swimmer.

Career

In April 2002 at the Australian Age Championships, Sullivan won the 50 m freestyle 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.

Medal achievements

Event Time Place 2007 World Championships 50m Freestyle 22.05 5th 100m Freestyle 48.47 Bronze 4x100m Freestyle 3:15.89 5th 4x100m Medley 3:34.93 Gold

Event Time Place 2004 Olympics 4x100m Freestyle 3:15.77 6th 2008 Olympics 50m Freestyle 21.65 6th 100m Freestyle 47.32 Silver 4x100m Freestyle 3:09.91 Bronze AR 4x100m Medley 3:30.04 Silver AR

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 Centre. 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.

Sullivan at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

Personal life

Sullivan was romantically linked with fellow Australian swimmer and individual world record holder Stephanie Rice, 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.

External links

• Eamon Sullivan at Swimming Australia

• Beijing Olympics 2008 – World Record Result – 4 x 100 m Freestyle Relay Final Result
• Beijing Olympics 2008 – World Record Result – Individual 100 m Freestyle Semi-Final Result

Records
Preceded by Alexander Popov Alain Bernard	Men's 50 metre freestyle world record holder (long course) 17 February 2008 – 23 March 2008 27 March 2008 – 26 April 2009	Succeeded by Alain Bernard Frédérick Bousquet
Preceded by Alain Bernard Alain Bernard	Men's 100 metre freestyle world record holder (long course) 11 August 2008 – 13 August 2008 13 August 2008 – 30 July 2009	Succeeded by Alain Bernard César Cielo