{"id":432281,"date":"2020-05-16T18:24:43","date_gmt":"2020-05-17T01:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=432281"},"modified":"2020-05-17T18:32:49","modified_gmt":"2020-05-18T01:32:49","slug":"madame-butterfliers-susie-oneill-and-mary-t-leave-indelible-marks-on-swimming-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/madame-butterfliers-susie-oneill-and-mary-t-leave-indelible-marks-on-swimming-history\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cMadame Butterfliers\u201d Susie O\u2019Neill And Mary T Leave Indelible Marks On Swimming History"},"content":{"rendered":"

Susie O\u2019Neill<\/strong> was never one to chase autographs but in 1986 the then 12-year-old lined up nervously with her friends to seize the prized signature of popular visiting US swimming superstar Mary T Meagher.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The three-time Olympic champion had been invited to Brisbane by Swimming Queensland to swim at the State Championships at the Sleeman Aquatic Centre at Chandler \u2013 the home of swimming in Australia\u2019s premier swimming State.<\/p>\n

\"Autograph

SIGN OF THE TIMES: Susie O’Neill’s Competitor Pass from the 1986 Queensland State Championships. Photo Courtesy: Susie O’Neill Collection.<\/p><\/div>\n

And this week Susie rummaged through her collection of swimming memories to reveal the autograph of the girl she would be forever associated with in the annals of swimming history.<\/p>\n

It comes as Susie O\u2019Neill celebrates the 20th<\/sup> anniversary of the day she achieved one of the sport\u2019s great milestones.<\/p>\n

Twenty years to the day that O\u2019Neill finally broke Mary T\u2019s world record in the 200m butterfly on May 17 in the year 2000.<\/p>\n

It was the Australian Selection Trials for the Olympics at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre.<\/p>\n

The time by Mary T of 2:05.96 (set at Brown Deer in Wisconsin on August 19, 1981), lasting 19 years. It had been was swimming\u2019s oldest world record, until O\u2019Neill, after being so close so many times, lowered it to 2:05.81.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill, married to husband Cliff Fairley<\/strong> and the mother of two teenagers in Alix and William, is also a successful radio host on Brisbane\u2019s Nova 106.9 Breakfast Show and she took time out this week to recall the day she finally broke a work mark she believed she was always destined for.<\/p>\n

After winning bronze at the \u201892 Barcelona Olympics four years before her triumphant Olympic gold in Atlanta in \u201996, Mary T\u2019s world mark became the prime target in the lead up to Sydney 2000.<\/p>\n

\"SUSIE

RELIEF: Finally…Susie O’Neill celebrates breaking swimming’s oldest world record. Photo Courtesy: Craig Borrow (News Ltd).<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI remember there being an amazing atmosphere at the Sydney pool that night\u2026.and then touching and seeing that I had broke it\u2026it was just like relief and you know I felt like I was always going to break that record,\u201d O\u2019Neill recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI woke up thinking this would be my last chance to break it..I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d do it at the Olympics, you know with all the pressure and everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember arriving at the pool and the crowd was just amazing, you just took that for granted back then\u2026and just how many people (12,000) were there and what a big deal it was.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I felt pretty good; I remember chatting to one of the massage therapists, Jo Yeoman-Hare in the warm up area.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had done my warm up and was on the way to the marshaling area and we just chatted about nothing in particular really but I felt like I knew I was going to win it, which I didn\u2019t always feel when I was racing Petria (Thomas).<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cShe was always quite close but I felt like I had her measure on this particular day and I just wanted to try and execute the proper number of strokes.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0305

FINALLY: Susie O’Neill celebrates that one moment in time. Photo Courtesy: Nick Wilson (Allsport).<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI remember I always tried to practice 24 strokes for the last 50 metres; we did a lot of pacing work and I know I never quite got there on the last 50m previously so I knew what I had to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I touched the wall, retrospectively I never felt any pain but you never know whether you feel the pain in the race or not; it usually just depends on the result I\u2019ve found previously\u2026<\/p>\n

‘Like Being A Rock Star’<\/h3>\n

\u201cWith the crowd it was kind of like being a rock star I imagine. Not that I was a rock star but with the crowd we more or less took it for granted given subsequent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember feeling pretty good; like when you go into a race knowing you\u2019re going to win it; not really worried about whether you are going to win it is always a good feeling; I knew it was going to be like a time trial and I felt like I was a lot freerer than at other events.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you feel good and your nerves are not over whelming at all; I remember sleeping really well and I had already swum relatively well that meet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019ve done all the training there is nothing more you can do. My coach Scott Volkers never really gave me too many race instructions; it was really just getting your mind off it to be truthful.<\/p>\n

\"SUSIE

ON THE FLY: Susie O’Neill in full flight \u00a0May 17, 2000. Photo Courtesy: Jeff Crow (Sport The Library).<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t really feeling any pressure. Not compared to other events I\u2019ve been in\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI had always trained hard and we would do so much work on pacing and I guess it\u2019s not much use thinking about it too much before you dive in\u2026.good races just happen\u2026everything just pops out\u2026so if you can keep distracted it works really well\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then there was the celebration and that pool deck dance?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea of a celebration dance if I ever broke the world record came out of a nightclub catch up with my friends the year before after the Nationals in Brisbane and saying if I ever broke the world record I would do a dance,\u201d recalled O\u2019Neill.<\/p>\n

\"Cartoon\"

WORLD RECORD DANCE: Capturing the moment. Art Work Courtesy: Warren Brown (News Ltd).<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt was an idea I got off Michael Klim<\/strong>\u2026.I remember Klimmy broke the world record in the 100m butterfly the year before and got up and did a dance on the pool deck and I knew I\u2019d have to do my dance if I broke the world record and when I broke it I thought \u201cI\u2019m going to have to do this dance now\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI really just wanted to break that record and after the dance I remember all the teams on the pool deck and seeing one of the long time Queensland Swimming officials Mrs (Greta) Tanner.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"SUSIE

DECK DANCING: Susie O’Neill unleashes on the pool deck. Photo Courtesy:Brett Costello (News Ltd).<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve watched that swim a few times since and the hype you get at the time you don\u2019t ever really re-create that but I remember really enjoying the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was similar to the night in Atlanta when I won the Olympic gold. They were my last events and I was really able to celebrate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a really great night back at the Novotel Hotel at Homebush Bay\u2026you couldn\u2019t have wished for anything better really if I tried with the home crowd and at our Trials. It was a great memory\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n