Giaan Rooney

Giaan Rooney

Rooney in November 2012
Personal information
Full name	Giaan Leigh Rooney
National team	Australia
Born	(1983-11-15) 15 November 1983 Brisbane, Queensland
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	63 kg (139 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle
Club	Melbourne Vicentre, Australian Institute of Sport
Medal record Women's swimming Representing Australia Olympic Games 2004 Athens 4×100 m medley 2000 Sydney 4×100 m medley 2000 Sydney 4×200 m freestyle World Championships (LC) 2001 Fukuoka 200 m freestyle 2005 Montreal 50 m backstroke 2005 Montreal 4×100 m medley 2003 Barcelona 4×200 m freestyle 2003 Barcelona 4×100 m medley World Championships – Short Course 1999 Hong Kong 4×100 m medley 2002 Moscow 4×100 m freestyle 1999 Hong Kong 4×200 m freestyle 2002 Moscow 4×200 m freestyle Pan Pacific Championships 1999 Sydney 4×200 m freestyle 2002 Yokohama 4×200 m freestyle 2002 Yokohama 200 m freestyle Commonwealth Games 1998 Kuala Lumpur 100 m backstroke 1998 Kuala Lumpur 4×100 m medley 2002 Manchester 4×200 m freestyle 2006 Melbourne 50 m backstroke 2006 Melbourne 100 m backstroke 2002 Manchester 100 m backstroke

Giaan Leigh Rooney, OAM (born 15 November 1982) is an Australian former competition swimmer and television personality. As a member of the Australian team in women's 4×100-metre medley relay, she won an Olympic gold medal and broke a world record at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Rooney is currently an Australian television presenter.

Personal life

Rooney was born in Brisbane, attended Miami State Primary School and All Saints Anglican School on the Gold Coast.

Giaan is married to Sam Levett. In September 2013, Rooney announced that she was pregnant with her first child, due in March 2014. On 17 March 2014, Rooney gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Zander.

Swimming career

Rooney's career began at age 11 at the Miami club in Queensland, where she was coached by Denis Cotterell. Training partners there included Grant Hackett and Daniel Kowalski. In 2002 Rooney moved to Melbourne, coached by Ian Pope at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre. Training partners included Matt Welsh, Michael Klim (who was also her boyfriend for two years) and Brett Hawke.

Rooney made her international swimming debut for Australia at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, where she won a gold medal in the 100 m backstroke as a 15-year-old. Rooney was also part of Australia's gold-medal winning 4×100-metre medley relay team at the 1998 Games.

At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney Rooney won two silver medals as a part of the 4×200-metre freestyle relay (with Kirsten Thomson, Susie O'Neill and Petria Thomas) and 4×100-metre medley relay (swum in morning preliminary session).

Rooney at the 2011 Australian Grand Prix

In 2001 Rooney claimed the world champion title in the 200 m freestyle, winning at the 2001 Fukuoka World Swimming Championships in Japan. This event was also widely remembered for the disqualification of the Australian women's team after they jumped in the water to celebrate apparent victory in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay: the team of Elka Graham, Petria Thomas and Linda Mackenzie joined anchor swimmer Rooney in the water to celebrate their win, but as it was before all other competitors had finished the event, they were disqualified. Furthermore, the team found out about their disqualification while they were giving a post race interview for television.

Rooney competed in the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, winning silver in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay (with Elka Graham, Rebecca Creedy and Petria Thomas) and bronze in the 100-metre backstroke.

In 2004 Rooney won a gold medal in world record time at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the women's 4×100-metre Medley Relay. Rooney swam a personal best and new Australian record time of 1:01.18 to help Australia to the gold – the maiden victory by Australia in this event in Olympic history.

After the withdrawal of Grant Hackett from the 2006 Commonwealth Games due to injury, Rooney was appointed as the captain of the national swimming team. She won a silver medal behind teammate Sophie Edington in the 100-metre backstroke, and qualified fastest for the 50-metre backstroke. However, she was upset by Edington by 0.01 of a second, again winning a silver medal. There is, however, conjecture about that official result with video suggesting Rooney touched first but did not activate the timing pad immediately. Rooney retired from competitive swimming after this meet.

Television career

Rooney has performed on television with appearances on Torvill and Dean's Dancing on Ice competition and holiday season weather presenter on Channel Nine's Today, filling in for Steven Jacobs, despite having no experience or qualification in meteorology.

Giaan also appeared as a presenter on the Nine Network's television health series What's Good For You (2007) and Getaway (2007–8). She also attended Bond University as a sporting scholar.

In 2010, Rooney was appointed as host of the Victorian edition of 'Postcards', a local travel series broadcast on the Nine Network replacing Suzie Wilks.

In 2011, Channel Nine appointed Giaan as occasional host of their Sunday sports programme Nine's Wide World of Sports.

In December 2012, Rooney joined the Seven Network as a fill weather presenter on Seven News Melbourne while David Brown was on holidays.

In February 2013, Giaan was appointed weather presenter on Seven News Melbourne replacing David Brown who is now network meteorologist. In January 2014, Rooney went on maternity leave, and was replaced by Jo Silvagni. Giaan returned from maternity leave in June 2014 to present weather on weekends.

In February 2015, Rooney resigned as weekend weather presenter on Seven News Melbourne. She will remain part of the Seven Network's news and sport division.

See also

• List of Commonwealth Games records in swimming
• List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)
• List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (women)
• List of Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming (women)
• World record progression 4 × 100 metres medley relay

External links

• Giaan Rooney at IMDb