Lenton, Lisbeth

▪ 2008

born Jan. 28, 1985, Townsville, Queens., Australia

      A charter member of Australia's aquatic “Golden Girls,” Lisbeth (Libby) Lenton was already among the most decorated female swimmers in Australian history when she arrived at the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) world championships in March 2007. By the time the competition ended, she had added five gold medals (three individual and two relay) to her total and emerged as perhaps her country's greatest hope for a multimedal performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

      It was in 2003 that Lenton launched herself into the elite ranks of both Australian and world swimming, winning her first national title in the 50-m freestyle. She also made an auspicious international debut with a win in the 100-m freestyle event at the inaugural “Duel in the Pool” against the U.S. in Indianapolis and took two bronze medals at the FINA world championships in Barcelona.

      At the 2004 Olympic trials in Sydney, Lenton came into her own, leading four women under the once-formidable 25-sec barrier for the 50-m freestyle with her 24.70 sec and setting a world record of 53.66 sec for the 100-m freestyle. At the Athens Olympics later that year, expectations were sky-high for 19-year-old Lenton, and the pressure was enormous under the relentless glare of the international media spotlight. She failed to qualify for the final of the 100-m freestyle and then watched as teammate Jodie Henry cracked her global mark with a time of 53.52 sec and took the gold. All was not lost, however, as Lenton sparked her 4 ×100-m-freestyle-relay team to a gold medal and a world-record 3 min 35.94 sec and earned an individual bronze in the 50 m. After Athens, Lenton seemed well nigh unstoppable, winning a total of 18 gold, 4 silver, and 2 bronze medals in five major international meets, twice lowering the 100-m short-course world record, and anchoring Australian 4 ×100-m-medley-relay teams to short-course and long-course global marks.

      Meanwhile, she was on a quest to regain her world record in the 100-m freestyle. She took it back from Henry in 2006 with a time of 53.42 sec, only to lose it again seven months later to Germany's Britta Steffen, who posted 53.30 sec at the 2006 European championships. Lenton blazed a historic 52.99-sec swim at the 2007 Duel in the Pool, but the time was not accepted as a world record by FINA because it came in an “unrecognized event”—a mixed men's and women's relay in which Lenton swam against American Michael Phelps. “I know that I swam that fast,” said Lenton, “and I know that I can do it again.”

Phillip Whitten

* * *