fullname birth_place weight height siblings birth_date article_title strokes name
michelle jan ford sydney , new south wales 54 kg lb on 1.59 m ftin on suzanne ford -lrb- sister -rrb- 15 july 1962 michelle ford
 freestyle , butterfly michelle ford
michelle ford

michelle jan ford , mbe -lrb- born 15 july 1962 -rrb- is an australian former long-distance freestyle and butterfly swimmer of the 1970s and 1980s , who won a gold medal in the 800-metre freestyle at the 1980 summer olympics in moscow .
she was the only non-soviet bloc female swimmer to win an individual gold medal at the boycott-marred games .
she also set two world records in her career , and was the first australian woman to win individual olympic medals in two distinct specialized strokes .
ford , the third of four children grew up in the seaside sydney suburb of sans souci , familiar with water , as her father ian , a dentist , had narrowly missed olympic selection as a yachtsman .
after learning to swim at the age of 6 , she made national headlines when she swam the 100yd freestyle in 61.5 seconds , at the age of 12 , the fastest time ever set by a swimmer at such an age .
in january 1976 , at the new south wales age championships , at the north sydney pool , she broke six state and three national records at the age of 13 , two of which had previously been held by triple olympic gold medallist shane gould .
she proceeded to compete at the australian championships , where she won the 200-metre butterfly , despite standing only 140 centimeters , setting another national record in the process .
another strong performance in the 200-metre freestyle lead to selection for both events for the 1976 summer olympics in montreal .
after a seven week national training camp , she competed in her first olympic race in the 200-metre freestyle , where her competition included the eventual champion , kornelia ender of east germany .
she was eliminated in the semifinals of the 200-metre freestyle .
her time of 2 minutes , 18.24 seconds in the 200-metre butterfly , two seconds outside her australian record , saw her eliminated in the semifinals also .
after the olympics , ford scaled her training back in order to catch up on her studies at st george girls high school .
on the advice of her coach dick caine , she began to concentrate on distance freestyle swimming , and in 1977 set an australian record in the 400-metre freestyle at the new south wales age championships , before setting another national record at the australian championships in the 800-metre freestyle , as well as winning the 200-metre freestyle .
the following year in 1978 , at the kb international meet in brisbane , she broke the 800-metre freestyle record of east germany 's petra thumer by 0.18 of a second , setting a new time of 8:35.04 , lowering her own national record by 10 seconds .
she also set another australian record in the 200-metre butterfly .
a fortnight later , ford lowered her record to 8:31.30 , but it did not last long .
at the 1978 australian championships , tracey wickham lowered the world record to 8:30.53 , and defeated ford in the 200 - and 400-metre events also .
at the 1978 commonwealth games in edmonton , ford swam the 800-metre freestyle in 8:25.62 , only to find that wickham had broken the world record in a time of 8:24.62 , to relegate her to silver .
wickham again restricted ford to silver in the 400-metre freestyle , while in the 200-metre event , they had to be content with silver and bronze respectively .
she won gold in the 200-metre butterfly and a bronze in the 4x100-metre freestyle relay .
in 1979 , ford missed the australian championships in order to concentrate on her final year of high school , leaving wickham to easily win the 200 - , 400 - and 800-metre freestyle .
however , at the soviet spartakiad games later in the year , she won three golds in the 200-metre butterfly and 400 - and 800-metre freestyle .
she then moved to nashville , tennessee , in the united states , to train and compete under don talbot on the american domestic circuit .
ford won the 800 - and the 1500-metre freestyle , and was second in the 200 - and 400-metre freestyle behind wickham at the 1980 australian championships to gain selection for the 1980 moscow olympics .
wickham later withdrew under public pressure from the government of australia , particularly prime minister malcolm fraser , who as the patron of the australian olympic committee to boycott the games in protest of the soviet union 's invasion of afghanistan .
ford chose to attend the games , competing in the 200-metre butterfly and the 400 - and 800-metre freestyle .
she qualified third fastest in the 400-metre freestyle , but the strategy undertaken by the east german trio coaxed her into deviating from her pre-race plan .
she finished fourth .
later in the 200-metre butterfly , she qualified fastest , ahead of east germany 's andrea pollack and ines geissler .
in the final the east germans turned the tables , with geissler and sybille schonrock leading ford home into the bronze medal position .
in her final event , the 800 m freestyle , ford had qualified behind another east german , ines diers .
ford made a slow start , lying in seventh at the 100-metre mark before snatching the lead from diers at the 200-metre mark and extending it to a 3.65-second victory .
after returning to australia , ford attempted to break the 16-minute barrier in the 1500-metre freestyle , but was thwarted , firstly by a timing failure , then by new south wales who did not want her to make her second attempt in queensland , and finally disqualification on her third attempt for incorrectly withdrawing from a previous race .
frustrated , she retired from swimming in 1981 .
she returned nine months later in 1982 , but selectors overlooked her for the 1982 world aquatics championships in ecuador .
she moved to train in the united states at the industry hills aquatic club in the city of industry , california before returning for the 1982 commonwealth games selection trials .
despite coming fifth and sixth in the 800-metre freestyle and 200-metre butterfly trials , selectors picked her on the basis of previous performance .
at the games in brisbane , she collected gold and silver in the 200-metre butterfly and 800-metre freestyle respectively .
in 1983 , ford accepted a scholarship to attend the university of southern california in los angeles , california , and commenced a degree in communication , while training for the 1984 summer olympics to be held there the following year .
the australian swimming union had changed the selection policy so that the top two placegetters in each event would be selected in for the olympic team , and when ford returned overweight and swam well outside her best , she missed selection .
she later returned to usc and swum much faster times than were recorded at the australian championships , but officials refused her official dispensation , forcing her into international retirement .
ford was made a member of the order of the british empire in 1982 , and was inducted into the international swimming hall of fame as an `` honor swimmer '' in 1994 .
