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Samantha Riley

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Samantha Riley

Personal information
Full name	Samantha Linette Pearl Riley
National team	Australia
Born	(1972-11-13) 13 November 1972 (age 51) Brisbane, Queensland
Height	1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Weight	59 kg (130 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Breaststroke
Club	Commercial Swimming Club
Medal record Women's swimming Representing Australia Olympic Games 1996 Atlanta 4×100m medley 1992 Barcelona 100m breaststroke 1996 Atlanta 100m breaststroke World Championships (LC) 1994 Rome 100m breaststroke 1994 Rome 200m breaststroke World Championships (SC) 1995 Rio 100m breaststroke 1995 Rio 200m breaststroke 1995 Rio 4x100m medley 1999 Hong Kong 4x100m medley 1993 Palma 100m breaststroke 1993 Palma 200m breaststroke 1999 Hong Kong 100m breaststroke Pan Pacific Championships 1995 Atlanta 200m breaststroke 1995 Atlanta 4x100m medley 1997 Fukuoka 100m breaststroke 1997 Fukuoka 200m breaststroke 1991 Edmonton 100m breaststroke 1991 Edmonton 200m breaststroke 1993 Kobe 100m breaststroke 1993 Kobe 4x100m medley 1997 Fukuoka 4x100m medley Commonwealth Games 1994 Victoria 100m breaststroke 1994 Victoria 200m breaststroke 1994 Victoria 4x100m medley 1998 K.Lumpur 200m breaststroke 1998 K.Lumpur 100m breaststroke

Samantha Linette Pearl Riley OAM (born 13 November 1972) is an Australian former competitive swimmer. She is of Aboriginal descent.^[1][2] She specialised in breaststroke and competed for Australia in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, winning three medals. She trained under Scott Volkers at the Commercial Swimming Club in Brisbane.^{[citation needed]} She was the first Indigenous Australian to win an Olympic medal.^[3]

Swimming career[edit]

Having been advised as a child to begin swimming to combat asthma^{[citation needed]}, the Brisbane schoolgirl broke into the Australian team for the 1991 World Championships in Perth, Western Australia, winning a silver medal in the medley relay.^{[citation needed]} The following year, Riley won a bronze medal in the 100-metre breaststroke at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, as well as competing in the 200-metre event.

In 1994, Riley won both breaststroke events at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia, and repeated the feat at the 1994 World Championships in Rome, Italy, setting a world record of 1 minute, 07.69 seconds in the 100-metre event.^{[citation needed]} This prompted Swimming World magazine to name her as the Female World Swimmer of the Year.

Riley continued to sweep all before her in 1995, but arrived for the 1996 Summer Olympics under the cloud of a doping controversy. Her coach, Scott Volkers, had given her a pill for headaches which contained the banned substance dextropropoxyphene.^[4] Riley tested positive at the world short course championships in Rio de Janeiro,^[5][6] and was only exonerated after her coach Volkers admitted to giving her a headache tablet which contained the banned substance.^{[citation needed]} Riley told a news conference the drug was contained in headache medication she took by accident.^[7] Under the pressure of the controversy, Riley performed well outside her personal best times. She collected a bronze in the 100m breaststroke. She also collected a silver medal in the 4x100-metre relay with Nicole Stevenson, Susie O'Neill and Sarah Ryan.

Riley never stood on the podium again as an individual at the world level, but maintained her position in the Australian squad. Many anticipated her to return to her peak at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, but a kidney infection disrupted her training.^{[citation needed]} She retired shortly after being Australia's most successful female breaststroke swimmer in the 1990s.

Personal life[edit]

At one stage during the mid-1990s, Riley was engaged to Norwegian Olympic champion speedskater Johann Olav Koss. She was also engaged at one time to rugby league player Julian O'Neill.^[3]

The major arterial Samantha Riley Drive in Kellyville is named after her. The Australian Olympic Committee recognised her in their list of Australian Indigenous Olympians.^[8]

In March 2023, it was reported that Riley had split from her husband of 22 years, former Ironman champion Tim Fydler. They have three children.^[3]

See also[edit]

• List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)
• List of Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming (women)
• World record progression 100 metres breaststroke
• World record progression 200 metres breaststroke

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Samantha Riley at the Australian Olympic Committee
• Samantha RileyatOlympics.com
• Samantha RileyatOlympedia
• Samantha Riley at the Commonwealth Games Federation (archived)