Swimming Australia Announces Annual Awards

SYDNEY, Australia, November 4. THE year 2007 will be one to remember for Libby Lenton after she was named the Telstra Swimmer of the Year at a glittering awards ceremony in Sydney.

The 22-year-old, who won five gold medals at this year’s FINA World Championship in Melbourne, joins individual Olympic gold medalists Susie O’Neill (1995 and 1996) and Jodie Henry (2004) and last year’s winner Leisel Jones as the fourth woman to win the award.

Lenton beat Jones and Jessicah Schipper for the top honor at a glittering awards ceremony at Badgery Pavilion, in Sydney’s Olympic Park.

She joins a who’s who of Australian swimming’s biggest names who have won the award since Glen Housman in 1989 – a list that includes Kieren Perkins, Michael Klim, Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett.

The 2004 Athens Olympian, who won three individual gold in the 50 and 100m freestyle and the 100m butterfly as well as two relay gold medals at the World Championships, received her award from Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo and Swimming Australia President Neil Martin.

Speaking at the Awards ceremony, Telstra Chief Executive Officer Sol Trujillo congratulated Libby on winning the award from the impressive line-up of Australia’s elite swimmers and wished the Telstra Dolphins well ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

“Australia’s swimming team goes from strength-to-strength, just like Telstra’s 16-year partnership with Swimming Australia, and our best wishes go to all the Telstra Dolphins ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games,” Trujillo said. “Telstra is finding more ways than ever before to bring fans closer to their swimming heroes. At the recent FINA World Championships, where Libby Lenton showed the world just how good she is, fans had unprecedented access to more than 250 hours of live and on demand coverage of all events on Telstra’s Next G

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