In 1993, the exposure to a high-performance environment and professional coaches at the Australian Institute of Sport led her to being selected to the Australian team for the first time.
The history of the Australian women’s 4 x 100m freestyle relay teams is simply staggering.
Australia has won an Olympic gold medal and/or world title in that event at least nine times.
It is a proud tradition. The first win was in 1956, the team being anchored by the great Dawn Fraser, and then followed the supreme world-dominating performances of Cate Campbell, Libby Lenton, Susie O’Neill, Jodie Henry, Petria Thomas, Emma McKeon, Ariarne Titmus and Mollie O’Callaghan.
As a freestyle sprinter, South Australia’s Sarah Ryan played an important role in helping Australia regain the No. 1 mantle.
In fact, Jodie Henry described Sarah Ryan’s influence on Australia’s 2004 Olympic gold medal this way: “While Sarah was not in the final team on the night she was an integral member of the team for years beforehand and was our premier freestyle sprinter and who all our young up and coming females, at the time, looked up to.”
Sarah had swum in the relay heats putting Australia into the final.
Her Swimming CV is something to behold, winning medals in relays at her three Olympic Games – 1996, 2000 and 2004.
She would also swim in the final of the World Championships, winning the 4 x 100m medley relay alongside Leisel Jones and Petria Thomas at the 2001 World tiles in Japan, establishing a new Commonwealth Record.
It was the first time in World Championship history that Australia had won the title.
In 1998, she swam the lead leg of the 4 x 100m freestyle final, winning bronze at the World Swim Championships in Perth. The anchor leg was swum by the great Susie O’Neill.
As a youngster, Sarah attended Mt Carmel College in the Adelaide suburb of Rosewater before being awarded a scholarship to the AIS in Canberra to train in 1993.
That exposure to a high-performance environment and professional coaches led her to being selected to the Australian team.
In a magnificent career that was launched through her training at the AIS, she went on to win medals at Nationals, Commonwealth Games, Pan Pacific Championships, World Championships and Olympic Games.
Sarah Ryan has been inducted into the Swimming SA Hall of Fame and the Sport SA Hall of Fame.
