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Petria Thomas is one of Australia's most successful female swimmers. Her three gold and one silver medal at the Athens Olympic Games brought her Olympic medal count to 8. Only the great Dawn Fraser and Susie O'Neill have equaled that number. After United States swimmer Michael Phelps, Petria was the most successful athlete at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.
Petria Thomas was born in Lismore, NSW and is the epitome of hard work and tenacity in Australia's sporting culture. Since making her debut for the Australian Swimming Team in 1993, she underwent an array of career threatening encounters, including 3 shoulder reconstructions and an ankle operation. Yet, she continued to shine as the nation's leading female performer in the pool.
All the hard work and determination paid off for Petria in Sydney at the 2000 Olympic Games. She won 3 medals in all, a bronze in the 200m Butterfly and silver in both the women's 4 x 200m freestyle relay and the 4x 100m medley relay.
Her results at the 2001 and 2002 Australian Championships were extraordinary. She easily won the 50m, the 100m, and the 200m Butterfly events, and also won medals in the 100m and 200m freestyle � not her specialty events. Following the 2001 Australian Championships, Petria underwent surgery again. After an ankle reconstruction, she again hit the training pool and while her achievements were extraordinary in 2001, 2002 were even better. At the Australian Championships held in Brisbane in March she qualified for a record 9 events for the Commonwealth Games.
At the Manchester Commonwealth Games, Petria won an astounding 5 Gold Medals, 1 Silver, and 1 Bronze. She also broke the Australian and Commonwealth Record in the 50m Butterfly swimming a time of 26.66s. Petria became the first and only female to win a Gold Medal in the same event at 3 successive Commonwealth Games when she won the 100m Butterfly.
A week later, at the World Short Course Championships she won gold in the 200m butterfly, breaking Susie O'Neill's old record by 0.41 seconds. She later helped destroy the 1999 Australian record in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay with Elka Graham, Giaan Rooney and Lori Munz.
At the Pan Pacific Championships in Japan 24-29th August 2002, Petria added another 5 medals to her total.
During her career, Petria won 3 Olympic Gold Medals, 3 World Championships, 9 Commonwealth Games Gold Medals, 13 Australian Championships, and 3 Pan Pacific Gold Medals.
2005 saw the release of Andy Shea's biography of Petria. Petria Thomas - Swimming Against the Tide, a truly inspirational story of courage and determination.
Petria Thomas won the hearts of millions around the world with her triple-gold-medal-winning triumph at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004. Having overcome the pain and anguish of three shoulder reconstructions and two ankle reconstructions over the length of her glittering 12-year career, Petria is admired and respected for her grit, determination and steely will.??In 2026, Petria led the Australian Commonwealth Games team as Chef de Mission for the second time, emotionally celebrating the team's success with a commemorative tattoo.
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