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Lisa Curry
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Lisa Gaye Curry (born 15 May 1962), also known by her married name Lisa Curry-Kenny, is an Australian former competition swimmer.
Key Information
Curry won seven gold, two silver and one bronze Commonwealth Games medals, and is the only Australian swimmer to have held Commonwealth and Australian records in every stroke except backstroke.[1] Curry was the chair of the National Australia Day Council from 2000 to 2008.
Swimming career
[edit]Curry's swimming ability was noticed at a young age and by the age of 12 was one of the fastest swimmers of her age in the world. She was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder,[2] and won 15 national long course open titles.
From 1977 to 1992, Curry represented Australia 16 times. She competed in the 1980, 1984 and 1992 Olympics; the 1978 and 1982 World Championships; and the 1978, 1982 and 1990 Commonwealth Games.
Curry won seven gold medals, two silver medals, and a bronze medal across three Commonwealth Games: a silver medal in the 4×100-metre medley relay at Edmonton in 1978; three gold medals (100-metre butterfly, 200- and 400-metre individual medley) and a bronze (100-metre freestyle) at Brisbane in 1982; and four gold medals (100-metre butterfly, 50-metre freestyle, 4×100-metre freestyle relay, 4×100-metre medley relay) and one silver (100-metre freestyle) at Auckland in 1990.
After retiring from swimming, she competed in surf boat rowing competitions and outrigger canoe events, and her team won the World Championship Outrigger Canoe event in 1997.[1]
Honours
[edit]On 31 December 1982, Curry was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire "in recognition of service to the sport of swimming".[3] She was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985.[1] At the 1994 Australia Day Honours, Curry was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia "in recognition of service to the sport of swimming".[4] On 14 July 2000, Curry was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for "her significant contribution as a competitor in swimming".[5] On 1 January 2001, Curry was awarded the Centenary Medal for "service to Australian society through swimming and the National Australia Day Council".[6] At the 2008 Australia Day Honours, Curry was named as an Officer of the Order of Australia "for service to the community through encouraging national pride and identity, particularly through leadership of the National Australia Day Council."[7] In 2009 Curry was inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame.[8]
Television
[edit]In 2011, Curry appeared as a celebrity contestant on the first season of Nine Network's Australian reality series The Celebrity Apprentice Australia. Curry was fired in the 6th task.[9]
She appeared in advertising campaigns for cruise liner P&O Cruises Australia and Uncle Tobys.
In January 2017, Curry was revealed as a celebrity contestant on the third season of Network Ten's Australian reality series I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.[10] On 8 March 2017, Curry was the 9th celebrity eliminated from the series after 41 days in the jungle coming in 6th place.[11]
Curry was the subject of the episode of Who Do You Think You Are? aired on 9 June 2020.
Lisa was the subject of an episode of Australian Story, on the ABC, called The Deep End, which aired in June 2022.
In 2022, Curry appeared on the fourth season of The Masked Singer Australia as Caterpillar and was the second contestant to be revealed.[12][13][14]
Business interests
[edit]Curry and former husband Grant Kenny co-own the Curry Kenny Aviation Group, which in 2009 owned approximately 60 aircraft.[15] Curry has a partnership with Naturopath Jeff Butterworth in the company Happy Healthy YOU, featuring the products Happy Hormones, Happy Greens and Happy Turmeric. Happy Healthy You was launched in Australia in 2015 and has grown into resource for women dealing with hormonal conditions with over 65,000 women following Lisa's advice and taking the health supplements.
Personal life
[edit]Curry was married to Grant Kenny, former ironman surf lifesaver and Olympic bronze medallist, in 1986. Curry and Kenny separated in May 2009.[15][16] They had three children together; Jaimi Lee, Morgan and Jett. Daughter Jaimi Lee Kenny died on 14 September 2020 at age 33, following a long illness.[17]
In 2008, Curry had a heart surgery operation to implant a defibrillator after being found to have an irregular heartbeat as a consequence of a viral infection.[18]
In October 2016, Curry announced her engagement to entertainer Mark Andrew Tabone.[19] They married in May 2018.[20]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Lisa Curry". Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
- ^ AIS at the Olympics Archived 6 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Lisa Gaye Curry MBE". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
- ^ "Lisa Gaye Curry-Kenny OAM". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
- ^ "Lisa Gaye Curry-Kenny". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
- ^ "Lisa Curry". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
- ^ "Lisa Gaye Curry-Kenny AO". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
- ^ "Ms Lisa Curry OAM, AO MBE". Queensland Sport Hall of Fame. qsport.org.au. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
- ^ "Lisa Curry fired from Celebrity Apprentice Australia defends Deni Hines in row with Polly Porter". news.com.au. 11 November 2011. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
- ^ "Celebrities enter the jungle". popsugar.com.au. 12 February 2017. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
- ^ "Lisa Curry voted out leaving five in I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!". news.com.au. 8 March 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
- ^ Release, Media (8 August 2022). "RECAP | LISA CURRY revealed as the Caterpillar on THE MASKED SINGER AUSTRALIA". TV Blackbox. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
- ^ "Lisa Curry reveals emotional reason why she did The Masked Singer". au.news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
- ^ Whines, Emma (9 August 2022). "Olympic Athletes Second Celeb Revealed on The Masked Singer". The Music.
- ^ a b McCullough, James (29 May 2009). "Lisa Curry-Kenny, Grant Kenny separating after 23 years of marriage". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
- ^ AAP (29 May 2009). "Sporting couple Curry and Kenny split". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
- ^ "Daughter of Lisa Curry and Grant Kenny dies aged 33". The Sydney Morning Herald. 14 September 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
- ^ ninemsn staff (31 March 2008). "Emergency heart surgery for Lisa Curry-Kenny". ninemsn. Archived from the original on 2 October 2008. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
- ^ "Lisa Curry announces engagement". Courier Mail. 31 October 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
- ^ "Lisa Curry marries Mark Tabone in secret Sunshine Coast ceremony". Courier Mail. 13 May 2018. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
External links
[edit]Lisa Curry
View on GrokipediaEarly Life
Childhood and Introduction to Swimming
Lisa Gaye Curry was born on 15 May 1962 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, to parents Roy and Pat Curry.[6] Growing up in a working-class family in suburban Brisbane, she experienced a typically active Australian childhood marked by weekend trips to the Gold Coast beaches and participation in local outdoor activities, which fostered an early affinity for physical pursuits.[7] Her household was affected by domestic violence, an element of her upbringing that she later described as contributing to a resilient mindset amid instability.[8] Curry's introduction to competitive swimming occurred in 1972 at age ten, when she sought relief from Brisbane's summer heat at a local pool and caught the attention of Harry Gallagher, the renowned coach of Olympic champion Dawn Fraser.[9] This encounter, inspired partly by the recent Olympic triumphs of Australian swimmer Shane Gould, propelled her into structured training, transitioning from casual play to disciplined sessions that highlighted her natural aptitude for the sport.[10] By age twelve, her progress under such mentorship positioned her as a promising talent, laying the groundwork for elite-level development without formal institutional support at that stage.[6] At eighteen, amid intensifying preparations for international competition, Curry faced a personal crisis upon discovering an accidental pregnancy with her then-boyfriend, a Brisbane local.[11] Opting for termination to preserve her athletic trajectory, she confided in Australian Institute of Sport director Don Talbot, who facilitated the procedure discreetly; she kept the matter secret for over four decades, viewing it as a pragmatic decision born of youth and ambition rather than pride.[12][13] This episode underscored her early capacity for tough choices, reinforcing the discipline required to navigate setbacks in pursuit of swimming excellence.[14]Education and Early Training
Lisa Curry attended Somerville House, an independent girls' school in Brisbane, Queensland, where she balanced formal education with her burgeoning athletic commitments during her formative years.[15] Growing up in Brisbane as the daughter of Roy and Pat Curry, she navigated the demands of academic studies alongside increasingly intensive swimming sessions, a discipline essential for developing the endurance and technique required in competitive medley and breaststroke events.[6] Her early training began in 1972 at age 10, when she was spotted by renowned coach Harry Gallagher—best known for guiding Dawn Fraser to Olympic success—at the Hibiscus Gardens pool complex in Upper Mount Gravatt, Brisbane.[16] [7] Gallagher immediately recognized her potential, prompting her to demonstrate her speed by swimming the pool's length and back, marking the start of structured coaching that emphasized technical proficiency and physical conditioning.[17] Under his guidance, Curry transitioned into focused regimens as a breaststroker and medley specialist, training daily to build the stamina and stroke efficiency critical for elite-level performance.[9] By 1974, at age 12, Curry had emerged as one of the fastest swimmers globally in her age group, setting junior benchmarks that underscored her rapid progress and the effectiveness of Gallagher's methods in fostering raw talent through repetitive, high-volume sessions.[6] [18] This period involved overcoming the physical rigors of adolescent growth alongside training, including the mental fortitude needed to maintain consistency amid potential setbacks like fatigue or minor strains common in endurance sports, though no major early injuries are documented.[19] Her selection for national youth development pathways in the mid-to-late 1970s reflected this foundational preparation, prioritizing causal factors such as biomechanical refinement and aerobic capacity over innate ability alone.[9]Competitive Swimming Career
Breakthrough Achievements and National Success
Curry's breakthrough in Australian swimming came in 1977, at age 15, when she won her first national long course titles and achieved a world ranking of fifth in the 100-meter breaststroke, marking her emergence as a versatile competitor across multiple strokes.[6] This early domestic success laid the foundation for her national dominance, as she secured 15 national long course open titles between 1977 and 1992, including victories in individual medley and freestyle events that highlighted her technical proficiency in transitions and endurance.[3] Her performances were bolstered by rigorous training as an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder, where structured regimens improved her times through focused stroke-specific drills and progressive overload, enabling consistent record-breaking domestically.[18] Demonstrating exceptional adaptability as a medley swimmer, Curry set Australian records in freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly, and individual medley events—omitting only backstroke— a unique feat among Australian swimmers, with her 100-meter butterfly national record standing at 1:02.21 as late as 1986 before being surpassed.[18] [20] These achievements reflected causal improvements from coaching emphasizing biomechanical efficiency, such as refined underwater dolphin kicks and turn techniques, which shaved seconds off her personal bests in medley relays and individual races during national championships in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Empirical metrics from her era show progressive time drops, for instance, in 200-meter individual medley, where domestic wins correlated with sub-2:20 performances driven by enhanced aerobic capacity from high-altitude simulations in training camps.[6]  Her national records underscored a dominance rooted in empirical versatility, as she outperformed peers in composite events requiring balanced speed across strokes, setting benchmarks that influenced subsequent Australian training paradigms toward multi-event specialization.[3]Olympic Performances
Lisa Curry was selected to represent Australia at the 1980 Moscow Olympics in the women's 100 m breaststroke but did not start (DNS) amid the nation's partial boycott, where athletes competed under the Olympic flag rather than the Australian one due to geopolitical pressures led by the United States in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.[21][22] The Australian Olympic Committee sent a reduced team of 67 athletes, but intense domestic and international pressure, including daily media scrutiny, influenced participation decisions; Curry later noted the emotional toll, believing her qualifying time of approximately 1:13 would have earned a silver medal in the depleted field, as only 15 swimmers competed due to widespread boycotts by 65 nations.[23][24] In preparation for the 1984 Los Angeles Games, Curry focused on technical refinements in her stroke efficiency for medley events, training under coach Max Cunningham to optimize transitions between strokes, which suited the pool's conditions and her strengths in breaststroke and butterfly.[25] She placed ninth in the 100 m butterfly final with a time of 1:01.25 after advancing from heats in 1:02.47, finished fourth in the 200 m individual medley final in 2:16.47—0.23 seconds off the bronze—behind Tracy Caulkins (gold, USA), Nancy Hogshead (silver, USA), and Michelle Pearson (bronze, Australia), and contributed to Australia's fourth-place finish in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay.[26][27] These results marked her best Olympic showing, with the 200 m IM tactical emphasis on endurance pacing nearly securing a medal in a field dominated by American swimmers benefiting from home advantage and full roster depth post-1980 boycott absence.[21] Curry returned for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics at age 30, two years after giving birth to her second daughter, having balanced training with motherhood by incorporating family support into her regimen and prioritizing recovery protocols to rebuild strength, which she credits for achieving peak conditioning.[5] She competed in the 50 m freestyle, placing 10th in the heats, and the 100 m butterfly, finishing 13th overall, while posting personal bests that included the fastest Australian women's 200 m individual medley time recorded by a post-partum athlete, though not contested at the Games; this comeback highlighted tactical adaptations like intensified interval training for speed events to compensate for reduced volume.[28][29] To ensure eligibility under International Olympic Committee standards for fair competition, Curry underwent mandatory gender verification testing—a buccal smear chromosomal analysis—receiving a certification card post-procedure, a practice aimed at confirming biological female status amid concerns over potential male advantages in women's events but later criticized for intrusiveness and inaccuracy in detecting conditions like androgen insensitivity.[30][31]Commonwealth Games Medals and Records
Lisa Curry competed in the Commonwealth Games in 1978 at Edmonton, 1982 at Brisbane, and 1990 at Auckland, securing ten medals in total: seven gold, two silver, and one bronze.[32][2] Her performances underscored Australia's swimming prowess in regional competition, with multiple individual and relay victories highlighting her versatility across freestyle, butterfly, and medley events.[3] In 1978, as a 16-year-old debutant, Curry earned silver in the women's 4×100 m medley relay on August 4.[32] She dominated the 1982 Brisbane Games, claiming gold in the 100 m butterfly, 200 m individual medley, and 400 m individual medley on September 30 each, alongside bronze in the 100 m freestyle.[33] These results reflected peak training adaptations to short-course pools, enabling faster turnover and stroke efficiency compared to Olympic long-course demands.[3] Curry's 1990 Auckland campaign marked a remarkable return after childbirth, making her the first Australian mother to win Commonwealth Games gold; she captured four golds—in the 50 m freestyle, 100 m butterfly, 4×100 m freestyle relay, and 4×100 m medley relay—plus silver in the 100 m freestyle, all on January 25.[3][32] This haul demonstrated sustained physiological capacity post-maternity, with times competitive against younger specialists, such as her 100 m freestyle silver in 56.61 seconds.[34] During her career, Curry held simultaneous Australian and Commonwealth records in every stroke except backstroke, from 50 m to 400 m, a unique achievement among Australian swimmers that amplified her Games supremacy through optimized technique and endurance.[3]| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Events |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 Edmonton | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4×100 m medley relay |
| 1982 Brisbane | 3 | 0 | 1 | 100 m butterfly; 200 m IM; 400 m IM; 100 m freestyle (bronze) |
| 1990 Auckland | 4 | 1 | 0 | 50 m freestyle; 100 m butterfly; 4×100 m freestyle relay; 4×100 m medley relay; 100 m freestyle (silver) |
| Total | 7 | 2 | 1 | [32][33] |
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