Susan O'Neill,AM (born 2 August 1973) is an Australian former competitive swimmer fromBrisbane,Queensland, nicknamed "Madame Butterfly". She achieved eight Olympic Games medals during her swimming career.
O'Neill was born on 2 August 1973 inMackay, Queensland, to Trish and John O'Neill. She has two siblings, a brother and a sister. Her family moved toBrisbane and she was educated atLourdes Hill College (LHC) inHawthorne.[1] Whilst at LHC, O'Neill excelled in sport, setting school records in 50 m and 100 m butterfly, freestyle, and backstroke. She was also LHC cross country champion and set records for the 13 years 800 m in 1986 and for the 15 years 400 m in 1988 for athletics. All these records still stood as of 2011.[1]
O'Neill won the 200m butterfly at the 1996 Summer Olympics and the 200m freestyle at the 2000 Summer Olympics. She has won 35 Australian titles, 8 Olympic medals including 2 gold, and 24 gold medals in major international competitions. OnlyEmma McKeon,Ian Thorpe andLeisel Jones have won more Olympic medals for Australia.
At her international debut at the 1990 Commonwealth Games, she won two medals (gold and silver), and continued to add to her medals cache at every international competition until her final Olympics. In front of a home crowd at the 2000 Olympic Games Trials she broke the 19-year standing world record of another "Madame Butterfly",Mary T. Meagher, in the 200m butterfly, but was beaten in an upset at the 2000 Olympic Games by AmericanMisty Hyman.
She trained under Bernie Wakefield until 1994, then Scott Volkers at the Commercial Swimming Club in Brisbane.
O'Neill is an ambassador for theFred Hollows Foundation.[2]
She provided commentary at the2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne for theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation. She was the Oceania athletes' representative on theInternational Olympic Committee from 2000 to 2005. When she resigned her membership she was replaced byBarbara Kendall.[3]
On 10 March 2007 during the12th FINA World Championship, O'Neill was honoured by the dedication of the temporary swimming pool in theRod Laver Arena in Melbourne named after her for the duration of the competition.
In 2015, O'Neill made regular appearances onAsh, Kip & Luttsy for several years before officially joining the team in 2019, at which point the show was renamedAsh, Luttsy & Susie.[4] She continued as a co-host until November 2024.
In 2025, O'Neill will remain withNOVA Entertainment, working on shows across theNova Network as a guest presenter for both Breakfast and National shows next year.[5]
On 14 February 2018, O'Neill released asingle entitled "My Heart Goes Boom".[6]
In May 2019, O'Neill was announced as Australia's joint Deputy Chef de Mission for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo,[7] with fellow Olympians,Evelyn Halls andKim Brennan.
O'Neill married Cliff Fairley, who works as anophthalmologist, in 1998. They have two children.
O'Neill and her husband, Cliff Fairley, help generously to raise awareness for the Fred Hollows Foundation, and are one of its most distinguished ambassadors.[19] The Fred Hollows Foundation is an internationalnonprofit organisation that educates surgeons on how to cure avoidableblindness within underserved communities and countries.[19]
| Records | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Women's 200 metre butterfly world record holder (long course) 17 May 2000 – 4 August 2002 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Incumbent | Women's 200 metre butterfly world record holder (short course) 17 February 1999 – 18 January 2004 | Succeeded by |
| Awards | ||
| Preceded by Incumbent | Swimming World World Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year 1995 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Swimming World Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year 1998–2000 | Succeeded by |
Medals | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
