A Path of Focus: Portrait of Cate and Bronte Campbell

Sisters Bronte Campbell (b. 1994) and Cate Campbell (b. 1992), champion swimmers, were born in Malawi to South African parents, and took up competitive swimming after the family settled in Brisbane in 2001. At her first Olympics, in Beijing in 2008, Cate won bronze medals in the 50m freestyle and as part of the 4 x 100m freestyle relay team. She was a member of the team that won gold in the 4 x 100m freestyle relay at the London Olympics in 2012, and in 2013 she claimed the individual 100m freestyle world title. Bronte – who won a world junior championship in 2011 – made her Olympic debut in London, and with Cate was part of the team that won silver in the 4 x 100m freestyle relay at the 2013 world championships. Bronte won three individual titles at the world championships in 2015 – becoming only the third woman in history to win both the 50m and 100m titles – and won gold alongside Cate, Emma McKeon and Emily Seebohm in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay. The duo helped Australia win gold in the same event at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, with Cate swimming a blistering final leg to set a new world record. In qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics, Cate became only the third Australian swimmer to have qualified for four successive Olympic Games, and with basketballer Patrick Mills was named as flagbearer for the opening ceremony. Cate, Bronte, McKeown and Meg Harris formed the 4 x 100m freestyle team that in Tokyo won Australia its third consecutive Olympic gold in the event, with Cate also anchoring Australia's gold-medal winning 4 x 100m medley relay team. The Campbell sisters currently have 62 Olympic, World, Commonwealth and Pan Pacific medals between them; and both have been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia – Cate in 2014 and Bronte in 2017 – for their contribution to swimming. In 2021 they published Sister Secrets: life lessons from the pool to the podium, an inspirational book for children and young adults which is nevertheless upfront in its discussion of body shaming and the treatment of female swimmers.

Purchased 2022
© Tish Linehan