Geoff Huegill

Swimmer Geoff Huegill made his mark as one of the world's great butterfly competitors. He is a multiple Olympic, World, Pan Pacific and Commonwealth Games medallist. He has won 14 Australian national titles and is a previous world record holder in the 50m butterfly. He has also written an inspirational book about the ups and downs in his life called Geoff Huegill: Be Your Best.

Update from Geoff: 28 March, 2012

"Last week I had a chance to get behind the blocks and fight for 1 of the 2 positions available for my seat to London, but unfortunately my dream wasn’t to come true. I always said that it was going to be a tough challenge to make the team. When I look back on my preparation over the past 12 months, it wasn’t the best that I could’ve hoped for. I was fighting an infection that was constantly running my immune system down, which made me change my approach leading into this meet. Plus, over the past 12 months we’ve seen the young guns really fire in this event and move it forward in leaps and bounds. I knew it was always going to come down to the touch, and unfortunately I was on the wrong end of it. I take my hat off to Chris Wright who blitzed the field swimming a PB of 51.6 and to young gun Jayden Hadler who also swam another PB of 52.0.
 
"It's hard to put into words how I feel. Yes, of course, it would’ve been a dream come true to have been on that team in London. After all, representing your country at an Olympic games is what every athlete dreams of. When I started the journey 730 days ago, I wanted to loose a few kilos and to be a role model for the younger kids of the sport to make sure they didn’t make the same mistakes I did. Swimming has given me another chance to travel the world and to race the best of the best. Over the past 4 years I came away with 3 Commonwealth medals and 2 World Championship medals, plus all of the other medals won along the way."

Follow Geoff on Twitter: @geoffhuegill

Some career highlights:

2010 Commonwealth Games
Gold medal, 100m butterfly
Gold medal, 4x100m medley relay
Silver medal, 50m butterfly

2002 Commonwealth Games
Gold medal, 50m butterfly
Gold medal, 100m butterfly
Gold medal, 4x100m medley relay

2001 World Championships
Gold medal, 50m butterfly
Gold medal, 4x100 medley relay
Bronze medal, 100m butterfly

2000 Sydney Olympics
Bronze medal, 100m butterfly
Silver medal, 4x100m medley relay

1998 Commonwealth Games
Gold medal, 100m butterfly
Gold medal, 4x100m medley