Hannah Cross

Victorian Hannah Cross was originally a dancer and swimmer but was always fascinated by the sport of Artistic Swimming. 

After being inspired watching Australia compete at the 2007 FINA Artistic Swimming World Championships in her hometown, Cross wondered if she could combine her two skills and take on the sport herself.

As fate would have it, Cross’ mum was named after famous Artistic Swimmer, Esther Williams so she took the plunge, but it wasn’t until 2012 that her Olympic dream was born.

After watching the Australian Artistic Swimming Team compete at London 2012, Cross said she was inspired to follow in their footsteps and become an Olympian herself. 

Cross became a member of the Junior Australian squad in 2011 as a 14-year old, then at 16, made her first national team.

Three years later, she made her Olympic debut at Rio 2016 as a 19-year old.

The Carlton-born teenager helped the team qualify for Rio after some strong team technical and free event results at the 2015 World Championships in Russia.

In the Rio 2016 team event, Cross helped Australia to eighth overall with a score of 75.4333 in the free routine and 74.0667 in the technical.

Since Rio, the now 23-year-old has improved upon her personal best, beating the teams’ Olympic scores, but it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. Throughout her career Cross has faced several injuries including multiple concussions and a serious knee injury.

She said coming back from injury was not only physically, but mentally tough and that she found it difficult to maintain her motivation and passion for the sport during those hard periods, but she was able to overcome her challenges.

Cross is a true representation of her personal motto “every champion was a contender that refused to give up” and counts her former coach Anna Nepotacheva as the most influential person in her career.

“She inspired me to always strive for more and taught me that no matter what anyone else says or does, I am the only one who writes my story.”

Cross was selected to compete at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, but retired from the sport during July 2021, and was replaced by Rayna Buckle