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Alice Mary Tait,OAM (néeMills; born 23 May 1986) is an Australian formerswimmer who represented Australia at the2004 Athens Olympics and the2008 Beijing Olympics winning two relay gold medals and a bronze.[1]
Trained by her coach Shannon Rollason at the Chandler Sports Complex along with her good friendJodie Henry, Tait was selected to make her international debut at the2002 Commonwealth Games inManchester, England, at the age of 16, where she collected a gold in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, as well as competing in the finals of the 50 m freestyle and 200 m individual medley. She repeated this at the 2002 Pan Pacific Championships in Yokohama, Japan.[citation needed]
2003 saw a big improvement in Tait's performance on the international swimming stage, when she received two silver medals at the 2003 World Swimming Championships inBarcelona, Spain in the 200 m individual medley and 50 m freestyle, breaking the Commonwealth record in the former and the Australian record in the latter. She also collected a silver and bronze in the 4 × 200 m and 4 × 100 m freestyle relays respectively.[citation needed]
2004 was a somewhat mixed year for Tait. She was beaten into 3rd place at the Australian trials in both the 50 m and 100 m freestyle, meaning that she was forced to watch these events from the stands. However, along with teammatesLibby Lenton,Petria Thomas, andJodie Henry, she won gold with a world record time in the women's 4 × 100 metre relay; 3min 35.94s.[citation needed] Later, she performed much slower than her previous best in the 200 m individual medley, being eliminated in the final. She admitted that she had been distracted by the earlier relay triumph. She also picked up a gold by swimming in the heats for the victorious 4 × 100 m medley relay team.[citation needed]
Tait started 2005 by relocating to theAustralian Institute of Sport along with Rollason and Henry. She started the year strongly, winning the 50 m and 100 m freestyle at the Australian championships, both in new personal best times, the former in Commonwealth record time.[citation needed] She also qualified in the 50 m butterfly in second place, and came third in the 100 m butterfly (but was not selected as each country is restricted to two entries, despite being ranked third in the world), all in new personal best times. However, she had a form slump at the 2005 World Swimming Championships inMontreal, Quebec, Canada, swimming much slower than at the selection trials, and missing the medals. She collected a gold medal as part of the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay team.[citation needed]
In 2006, Tait qualified and competed at the2006 Commonwealth Games. She won bronze in the 50 m and 100 m freestyle behindLibby Lenton andJodie Henry and in the 50 m butterfly behindDanni Miatke andJessicah Schipper. She combined with Henry, Lenton andShayne Reese to claim gold in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay.[citation needed]
In late 2006, Tait missed selection for the2007 World Aquatics Championships.[citation needed] She was part of the bronze medal-winning Australian team in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay at the2008 Summer Olympics.
In the2005 Australia Day Honours, Tait was awarded theMedal of the Order of Australia for "service to sport as a Gold Medallist at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games".[2][3]
Tait announced her retirement from sports in June 2012.[4]
Tait is married to the former Scottish Olympic swimmerGregor Tait.[5] Their son was born in August 2015; in June 2018, they had a second.[6]
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