LIBBY LENTON

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'Lisbeth "Libby" Constance Lenton OAM' (born January 28, 1985, in Townsville, Queensland) is a member of the Australian Women's Olympic swim team, an Athens gold medalist, and former holder (with teammates Alice Mills, Petria Thomas, and Jodie Henry) of the world record in the women's 4 × 100 metre relay (with a time of 3:35.94).
Lenton was also a bronze medalist in the Women's 50 metre Freestyle. She had previously been the holder of the 100 m Freestyle world record (53.66) set at the Olympic swimming Trials held in Sydney, Australia on 31 March 2004, but lost this to teammate Jodie Henry (53.52) during the semi finals of the event at the Athens Olympics.
However, Lenton regained her 100 m Freestyle World Record on January 31 2006 at the Australian Championships in Melbourne. Her time of 53.42 was 0.1 sec faster than the previous record held by Henry. On August 2, 2006, German swimmer Britta Steffen broke Lenton's 100m Freestyle World Record at the 2006 European Championships in Budapest, Hungary, with a time of 53.30.
In July 2005, at the FINA World Championships in Montréal, Canada, Lenton was one of the form swimmers of the meet. She won the 50 m freestyle in a time of 24.59 to record her maiden championship at international level. She also achieved a silver medal in the 100 m butterfly (57.37). She was a member of three relay teams, the 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay, 4 × 100 metre medley relay, and the 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay teams, winning gold(3.37.22), gold (3.57.47) and silver(7.54.00) in the respective events. Fairly new to the 200 m freestyle event, Lenton recorded the fourth fastest time in history clocking 1.57.06 as lead-off swimmer in the final of the 4x200 m freestyle relay. The time being more than 1.5 seconds faster than the individual gold medallist Solenne Figues (1.58.60) (France). On returning to Australia, Lenton continued her rich vein of form, lowering the 100 m Short Course Freestyle World Record on consecutive nights at the Australian Short Course Championships to 51.70s.
2005 brought a further world record in the short-course 200m freestyle at the Sydney, Australia stop of the 2005 FINA World Cup series (Sydney - 19th November) with Lenton recording a time of 1:53.29 to beat the previous record by 0.75 seconds.
Lenton is coached Swiss-born Stephan Widmer at the Fortitude Valley Pool in Brisbane, and she now trains alongside current 100m and 200m breaststroke World Record Holder and World Champion Leisel Jones.
At the 2006 Commonwealth Games she won silver medals in the Women's 200m freestyle and 100m butterfly events. She defeated Henry to claim the 50m and 100m freestyle, and was a part of the winning 4x200m and 4x100m freestyle relay teams, as well as breaking the world record in the 4x100 m medley relay, where her split of 52.87s eclipsed the previous best by Henry. She took 5 of Australia's 12 gold medals in the 2006 Short Course Worlds in Shanghai, being named the leading female swimmer of the meet.
In the latter part of 2006, Lenton won four titles at the Australian Short Course Nationals - both the 50m and 100m freestyle and butterfly events. More commonly known for her freestyle expertise, Lenton demonstrated to the rest of the world that her talents in the buttefly arena are likewise to that of her freestyle capabilities - she set a new Australian and Commonwealth record in the 50m butterfly and a new world record over the 100m distance.
She was named as the 2005 Female Australian Swimmer of the Year.
On March 25, at the 2007 FINA World Championships in Melbourne, Lenton claimed Gold again. Combining with Shayne Reese, rookie Melanie Schlanger and great mate Jodie Henry, Lenton led the Australian 4x100 m freestyle relay team in a world championship record time of 3:35.48, ahead of the USA in 3:35.68 and the Netherlands in 3:36.81.
Australia could not have wished for a better start with Lenton finishing her 100m split in 53.42 - a time that was under that of the first leg relay world record split.
On March 26, Lenton added another Gold by winning the women's 100m butterfly in a championship record time - 57.15 seconds - touching the wall just 0.09 seconds ahead of her second-placed team-mate Jessicah Schipper and American Natalie Coughlin. Then, on April 1, she won another gold by an amazing nine one-hundredths of a second
Shortly following the 2007 Worlds, on April 3, at the biannual Duel in the Pool meet between Australia and the USA swimming teams (in Sydney, Australia in 2007), she swam a 100m freestyle in 52.99, well under the existing World Record of 53.30 by Germany's Britta Steffen, and making her the first woman under 53 seconds in a long-course (50m) pool. The time, while a valid swim, however, was not accepted by FINA as the World Record, because the race the time was swum in is not, itself, a recognized FINA event according to the ruling.

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Personal life

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Personal life

Married over Easter 2007 weekend under tight security as she has sold the rights to an Australian Magazine.

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★ {{Swimming Australia name|id={9689A1AF-EB3C-4F9B-ABC9-24A53419F460}|name=Libby Lenton}}

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