QUEENSLAND – Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific champion Cate Campbell has added to her list of accolades for 2014 taking home three major individual awards, including Swimmer’s Swimmer, Georgina Hope Foundation Olympic Program Swimmer of the Year and overall Swimmer of the Year at the 2014 Swimmer of the Year Award Ceremony at Brisbane City Hall in Queensland tonight.
The Simon Cusack coached star was also presented with the Speedo Golden Moment award along with her 4x100m freestyle relay teammates; sister Bronte Campbell, Melanie Wright (nee Schlanger) and Emma McKeon, from the Glasgow Commonwealth Games that broke the world record, eclipsing the previous world best set by the Netherlands in 2009 by almost a second.
The 22-year-old continued to reign supreme in the sprint events at the major international competitions this year and currently holds the fastest time in the world for 2014 in the 100m freestyle (52.62 – set at the 2014 Hancock Prospecting Pan Pacific Championships) and equal fastest time for the 50m freestyle (23.96 – set at the 2014 Hancock Prospecting Pan Pacific Championships).
This is the second consecutive year that Campbell has won the coveted Swimmer of the Year award after taking out the 2013 title in Perth at a ceremony in February.
Campbell kick started her year when she took out the title of female swimmer of the meet at the BHP Billiton Aquatic Super Series in Perth and then went on to win two national titles in the 50 and 100m freestyle at the Australian Swimming Championships in Brisbane.
After making her Australian Swim team debut six years ago at the age of 16, Campbell has gone from strength to strength and announced herself as one of the world’s premier female freestyle sprinters.
Campbell has won seven international gold medals this year taking gold in the 100m freestyle, the 4x100m freestyle and 4x100m medley relay events at both the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Hancock Prospecting Pan Pacific Championships on the Gold Coast as well as gold in the 50m freestyle at the Pan Pacs and silver in the same event at the Commonwealth Games.
The Brisbane based swimmer was not only awarded the Olympic Program and overall Swimmer of the Year award but was also recognised by her peers with the Swimmer’s Swimmer award – voted for by each swimmer on the Australian Swim team.
Her long-time coach and mentor Simon Cusack was awarded Coach of the Year after playing an integral role in Christian Sprenger, Tommaso D’Orsogna, Bronte and Cate Campbell’s success on the international stage this year. All four swimmers won individual medals at the Commonwealth Games with D’Orsogna, Cate and Bronte also taking home medals at the Hancock Prospecting Pan Pacific Championships.
Other award recipients on the night included the Georgina Hope Foundation Open Water Swimmer of the Year Jarrod Poort and Paralympic Program Swimmer of the Year Grant Patterson.
Poort won a silver medal in the 10km open water event at the Hancock Prospecting Pan Pacific Championships. Earlier in the year he also took out two national Open Water titles in the 5 and 10km events as well as the 10km race at the FINA world cup in Portugal.
Poort’s Coach Ron McKeon was also recognised on the night, taking home the Open Water Coach of the Year award.
While Patterson picked up an impressive six medal haul at the 2014 Para Pan Pacs in Pasadena, California and set a number of new personal bests in the process.
While the AIS Discovery of the Year was awarded to Australian Swim Team debutant Mack Horton following his outstanding breakthrough season that saw him win silver at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and bronze at the Hancock Prospecting Pan Pacific Championships in the 1500m freestyle.
Please see below for a complete list of the award recipients for 2014:
| Award | Award Recipients |
| Services to the Australian Swim Team presented by Speedo | Frances Adcock |
| Angie Bainbridge | |
| Nicholas Ffrost | |
| Katrina Porter | |
| Stephanie Rice | |
| Jessicah Schipper | |
| Technical Official of the Year | Erin Collis |
| Club of the Year | Campbelltown ASC |
| Volunteer of the year | Belinda Gangemi |
| Speedo Golden Moment | Commonwealth Games Women’s 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay – Bronte Campbell, Melanie Wright (nee Schlanger), Emma McKeon and Cate Campbell |
| People’s Choice | Cameron McEvoy |
| Georgina Hope Foundation Age Group Coach of the Year | Dean Boxall – St. Peter’s Western |
| Open Water Coach of the Year | Ron McKeon |
| Paralympic Program Coach of the Year | Yuriy Vdovychenko |
| Olympic Program Coach of the year | Simon Cusack |
| Swimmer’s Swimmer | Cate Campbell |
| AIS Discovery of the Year | Mack Horton |
| Short Course Swimmer of the Year | Emily Seebohm |
| Open Water Swimmer of the year | Jarrod Poort |
| Georgina Hope Foundation Paralympic Program Swimmer of the Year | Grant Patterson |
| Georgina Hope Foundation Olympic Program Swimmer of the Year | Cate Campbell |
| Swimmer of the Year | Cate Campbell |
Swimmer of the Year past winners:
| YEAR | NAME | STATE |
| 1990 | Glen Housman | QLD |
| 1991 | Hayley Lewis | QLD |
| 1992 | Kieren Perkins | QLD |
| 1993 | Kieren Perkins | QLD |
| 1994 | Kieren Perkins | QLD |
| 1995 | Susan O’Neill | QLD |
| 1996 | Susan O’Neill | QLD |
| 1997 | Michael Klim | VIC |
| 1998 | Michael Klim | VIC |
| 1999 | Ian Thorpe | NSW |
| 2000 | Ian Thorpe | NSW |
| 2001 | Ian Thorpe | NSW |
| 2002 | Ian Thorpe | NSW |
| 2003 | Ian Thorpe & Grant Hackett | NSW /QLD |
| 2004 | Jodie Henry | QLD |
| 2005 | Grant Hackett | QLD |
| 2006 | Leisel Jones | QLD |
| 2007 | Libby Lenton | QLD |
| 2008 | Stephanie Rice | QLD |
| 2009 | Jessicah Schipper | QLD |
| 2010 | Alicia Coutts | QLD |
| 2011 | James Magnussen | NSW |
| 2012 | Alicia Coutts | QLD |
| 2013 | Cate Campbell | QLD |
| 2014 | Cate Campbell | QLD |
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