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Lisa Weightman

Age

45

Place of Birth

VIC

Hometown

Melbourne

Junior Club

Preston

Senior Club

Preston / Melbourne University

Coach

Dick Telford

Olympic History

Beijing 2008

London 2012

Rio 2016

Tokyo 2020

High School

Preston Girls Secondary College

Career Events

Athletics Womens Marathon

 

Lisa's Story

Fast Facts 

Sport: Athletics  
Event: Marathon
Olympic History: Beijing 2008 33rd marathon, London 2012 16th marathon, Rio 2016 31st marathon, Tokyo 2020 26th
Highlights: Four-time Olympian, two-time Commonwealth Games marathon medallist  
Coach: Dick Telford 
Club: Melbourne Uni 
Year Born: 1979 
State Born: Melbourne, VIC 

About Lisa

Lisa Weightman’s selection for Tokyo, her fourth Olympic Games, continues her enduring career, making up for lost time. She becomes just the eighth Australian in athletics to go to a record four Games. She joins marathoners Steve Moneghetti, Lisa Ondieki, Rob de Castella and Benita Willis as four-time Olympians.

Aged 42, she becomes the third oldest Australian athlete to compete in athletics at the Olympics. 

She started running with her dad and sister to develop her heart and lungs as a young girl. At high school, she placed seventh in a race and said to her mum and dad “I want to train for it next time and win a medal.” 

They supported her to do so and she trained around the Preston City Oval while her dad coached his football team.

The following year she finished on the podium and made her first Victorian team. She won national junior medals in the 3000m, but the transition years to seniors were troublesome.


“I had a lot of my traumatic injury years as a runner when I was in my 20s, and I think the main reason I’m 42 and running PBs is that I started late and built up slowly,” Weightman said.

“I was so injury-prone in my 20s, my coach Dick Telford and I made a decision to take things slowly over the years and try for longevity.  I think this approach has paid off.”  

Aged 27, she made her international debut at the World Road Running Championships and within two years, now aged 29, she made her Olympic debut in Beijing.

She placed a tremendous 33rd and commenced an impressive international championship career. In 2008, then 2009 she placed 20th and 17th respectively in the world cross country – one of only three Aussie women to claim two or more top-20 places in this event. In 2009 she was also 18th in the marathon at the world championships, then the equal second-best by an Australian woman.

The next year in 2010 she won the first of two Commonwealth Games marathon medals, third in Delhi and silver on the Gold Coast (2018). In 2012 at the London Olympics, she achieved probably her best career performance at a global meet, placing 17th - the fourth-best performance ever by an Australian woman. In the Rio Olympics she placed 31st, two years ahead of her Gold Coast Commonwealth Games silver medal. 

Amongst this glorious championship record, in 2017 she clocked her marathon personal best of 2:25.15 when placing fifth in the London Marathon, becoming the third-fastest in Australian ever (she is now fourth). 


In August 2019, she won a fantastic half marathon race against leading Aussies Ellie Pashley and Sinead Diver on the Sunshine Coast, breaking the Australian all-comers record with a time of 68:48. In January 2020 she clocked her second-fastest marathon, 2:26.02, almost certainly sealing Olympic selection.  

Over a year later, Lisa Weightman’s selection for Tokyo was confirmd - her fourth Olympic Games
She became just the eighth Australian in athletics to go to a record four Games. She joined marathoners Steve Moneghetti, Lisa Ondieki, Rob de Castella and Benita Willis as four-time Olympians. Aged 42, she became the third oldest Australian athlete to compete in athletics at the Olympics.

Weightman was magnificent in Tokyo, or specifically Sapporo where the marathon was conducted, achieving her second-best ever Olympic place of 26th, clocking 2:34.19 in the stifling heat.
"It did feel like a battlefield when we were all getting ready, ice baths, ice towels and the works. It has been an experience that we will never forget," said Lisa.
It was also Lisa’s fourth Olympics where she was top-35, an outstanding achievement. 

Weightman has a very different life than many other full-time athletes. “I currently hold three full-time roles – mum to little Peter, IBM technology consultant of 20 plus years and Olympian and two-time Commonwealth Games marathon medallist,” she said.

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