Nine Swimmers Make the List of the Top 100 Australian Athletes

The Daily Telegraph and journalist Richard Hinds have published their annual top 100 sportsmen and sportswomen list. This year’s list included nine swimmers in the top 100 with Cate Campbell cracking the top 10.

Hinds acknowledges that it is difficult to compare athletes from different disciplines. When making the list he considered their current performance, career performance, contribution to their sport, public profile and leadership.

The top 10 include:

1. Michael Clarke – Cricket
2. Adam Scott – Golf
3. Sally Pearson – 100 meter Hurdles
4. Daniel Ricciardo – F1
5. Tim Cahill – Soccer
6. Greg Inglis – Rugby
7. Andrew Bogut – Basketball
8. Jamie Whincup – V8 SuperCar
9. Cate Campbell – Swimming
10. Stephanie Gilmore – Surfer

Campbell obviously deserves to be in the top 10 and it is a bit surprising that she isn’t higher in the rankings.

After all this summer she won gold in the 50 and 100 freestyle as well as the 4 x 100 freestyle and medley relays at the Pan Pacific Championships. This was after winning gold in the 100 freestyle, 4 x 100 medley and freestyle relays at the Commonwealth Games.

Campbell also finished the season ranked number one in the world in the 50 and 100 freestyle. This is all without mentioning that she was part of the 4 x 100 freestyle team that set a world record at the Commonwealth Games.

She was also up for the ‘I Support Women in Sport Award’ that has a criteria that includes inspiration and leadership and is currently a member of the Australian Olympic Committee’s Athlete’s Commission.

As Hind states it is hard to compare the achievements in different sports, but is interesting to see in a country that values the sport of swimming how far down the list Campbell has been placed.

The other swimmers who made the top 100 include:

• James Magnussen – 28th
• Cameron McEvoy – 66th
• Emma McKeon – 69th
• Matthew Cowdrey – 72nd
• Bronte Campbell – 88th
• Rowan Crothers – 93rd
• Maddison Elliot – 98th