At the 2004 Olympic Trials, Melissa Morgan, then aged 19, won the 200m Backstroke in a time of 2:12.90, which placed her in the world’s top 10 backstroke swimmers of that year.
Melissa Morgan was born on New Year’s Day 1985.
Perhaps being born on that auspicious day had no connection – but as she grew into a young teenager, it was as though she was exploring new aspects in her swimming, going beyond the usual.
In 2001, at the age of 16, she competed in the East Asian Games and the Sydney Olympic Youth Festival.
In the East Asian Games, she finished 5th in the 200m backstroke, and in the Sydney Olympic Youth Festival, she won a silver medal in the 1500m freestyle.
The two events could hardly be more different.
In that year, her 200m backstroke time of 2:12:36 was the third fastest Australian time ever.
It became obvious that the 200m backstroke would be her strongest event. SA was revealing its strength in the event, given that Frances Adcock was also selected to the Australian Olympic team for 2004.
She had moved from the Elizabeth Swim Club to Burnside, from where she qualified for the XXVIII 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
At the 2004 Olympic Trials, Melissa Morgan, then aged 19, won the 200m Backstroke in a time of 2:12.90, which placed her in the world’s top 10 backstroke swimmers.
At the Olympic Aquatic Centre in Athens on August 19 and 20, an extraordinarily deep field of backstrokers competed against each other for the gold medal.
Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry broke an African record time to win gold. Russia’s Stanislava Komarova won silver, while in remarkable circumstances, Japan’s Reiko Nakamura and Germany’s Antje Buschschulte shared the bronze medal, in a joint time of 2:09.88.
Such was the depth of the field that British swimmer and world champion Katy Sexton finished outside the medals in seventh place, with a time of 2:12.11.
From lane 2, Melissa Morgan would reach the semifinals, finishing 11th overall in a time of 2:14:06. Had she been able to reproduce her personal best, she would have finished 6th in the final.
Melissa Russell (nee Morgan) has been inducted into the Swimming SA Hall of Fame.
