Geoff Huegill
![]() Geoff Huegill in 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Geoffrey Andrew Huegill[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nickname(s) | "Skippy",[2][3] "Skip" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National team | ![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Gove, Northern Territory | 4 March 1977|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 93 kg (205 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Strokes | Butterfly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Club | SOPAC Swimming Club | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Geoffrey Andrew Huegill (born 4 March 1979) is an Australian butterfly swimmer who won silver in the 4 × 100 metre medley relay and bronze in the 100 metre butterfly at the 2000 Summer Olympics. He held the long course world record in the 50 metre butterfly from 2000 to 2003.
Personal life
Geoff was born to an Australian father and a Thai mother in 1979.[4] He is the uncle of Australian rugby league player Chris McQueen.[5]
Retirement
Huegill attempted to qualify for the Australian team at the 2005 and 2006 Australian championships, however, he was unsuccessful. After retiring from competitive swimming, he went on a downward spiral taking drugs, and suffering severe depression. In 2007, he met publicist Sara Hills, who Huegill credits with turning his life around. They married in 2011 and conceived their first child unexpectedly on their honeymoon. Their daughter, Mila, was born in January 2012.
Comeback
On 12 November 2008, Huegill announced his comeback to competitive swimming. Having had major battles with his weight since quitting the sport following the 2004 Athens Olympics. He said he had lost more than 40 kilograms (coming from 138 kg) for his comeback and would train for the 50 and 100 butterfly with the aim of competing at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. He sparked attention of the Australian sports media by qualifying for the finals in the 50 and 100 metre butterfly at the 2009 Telstra Australian Championships (being interviewed after every swim). He built more momentum in August 2009 at the Australian Short Course Championships, capturing his first national medal in 5 years.
2010 brought enormous improvements, clocking 23.44 in the 50 metre butterfly to win the Australian title, just 0.02s off his old world record from 2001. His 100-metre butterfly was 53.09 seconds, finishing 5th. In a post-swim interview he claimed to be a lean 93 kg. At the 2010 Pan Pacs he clocked 23.27 seconds in the heats of the 50 metre butterfly but was not able to back up that form in the finals, finishing just outside the medals. His 100 butterfly was 52.21, his second-fastest time ever, faster than his bronze medal swim in Sydney almost ten years before. He picked up a bronze medal in the medley relay. At the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games he won gold medals in the 4 × 100 metre medley and the 100 metre butterfly breaking a ten-year-old personal best when winning in 51.69 seconds (Commonwealth games record). He was narrowly beaten by 0.02 of a second in the 50 metre butterfly by Kenyan Jason Dunford in a time of 23.37. Huegill swam at the 2010 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m), no medals were achieved however he did earn his name back into the record list with an Australian record the 4 × 100 metre medley relay.
Publications
- Be Your Best: Hunt For Gold, TV documentary for FOXTEL, aired in February 2012.
- Huegill, Geoff. (2012) Be Your Best. Random House, ISBN 978-1742751658
See also
- List of Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming (men)
- List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men)
- World record progression 50 metres butterfly
References
- ^ "Results – Tuesday 5 October". BBC Sport. 5 October 2010. Retrieved 5 October 2010.
- ^ Smith, Wayne (9 October 2010). "Skippy Geoff Huegill makes it the best race of his life". The Australian. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
- ^ Hackett, Grant (6 October 2010). "Geoff 'Skippy' Huegill is the true comeback king". The Australian. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
- ^ httpnews/sports/294080/huegill-hopes
- ^ "Player Poll: Olympians in the making". Retrieved 11 August 2016.
External links
- Geoff Huegill on X
- Geoff Huegill at IMDb
- Use dmy dates from September 2012
- 1979 births
- Living people
- Australian male swimmers
- Sportsmen from the Northern Territory
- Olympic swimmers of Australia
- Swimmers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games
- Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Swimmers at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
- Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia
- Olympic silver medalists for Australia
- Olympic bronze medalists for Australia
- Australian people of German descent
- Australian people of Thai descent
- Former world record holders in swimming
- Olympic bronze medalists in swimming
- World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming
- Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m)
- Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Olympic silver medalists in swimming
- Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming