Elizabeth Dekkers

Elizabeth dipped her toes in the water with Brisbane’s Newmarket Racers Swimming Club at the age of 10, but continued to compete in a variety of sports, even representing Queensland in water polo at age level.

“My biggest challenge was deciding at the age of 14 to give up netball and water polo and give swimming a shot,” she said.

It was early success in the 200m butterfly that drew her to full-time swimming, and that is the event where she has continued to shine, with Commonwealth Games and World Championship medals.

As a junior, Elizabeth recorded a series of eye-catching performances, including fifth in the 200m butterfly at the Junior World Championships, and she only narrowly failed to qualify for the Australian team for the Tokyo Olympics at the age of 17.

But at the Australian trials in Adelaide in 2022, Elizabeth dominated the 200m butterfly final, winning in a time of 2:07.62 and claiming a place on the team for the World Championships and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

In Birmingham, she dominated the preliminary rounds in the 200m fly, qualifying fastest by two seconds. The competition was tougher in the final and England’s Laura Stephens took off like a rocket. But Elizabeth fought back in the final lap, taking gold in a time of 2:07.26, 0.64 seconds ahead of Stephens.

At the World Short Course Championships in Melbourne at the end of 2022, Elizabeth won bronze in the 200m fly with a time of 2:03.94, just 0.57 seconds behind American gold medal winner Dakota Luther.

However, perhaps the greatest triumph of her career so far came at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, where she ended a 14-year drought for Australia.

Elizabeth looked like a solid bronze medal contender in the 200m fly, with American Regan Smith and Canadian superstar Summer McIntosh in superlative form early in the meet. In the final, Smith and McIntosh took the race out quickly, with Elizabeth fifth at the halfway mark. But she pulled off a truly spectacular back half, overtaking Smith and grabbing silver behind McIntosh in a time of 2:05.46.

She became the first Australian to win a medal in 200m butterfly at the world championships since Jessicah Schipper won gold at Rome in 2009.

“I really wanted to medal and I’m very happy that I could do it,” Elizabeth said. “I wanted to race the girls. It’s a pretty incredible field, so really happy.”

At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Elizabeth made an impressive debut when she narrowly missed out on a medal in the 200m butterfly. Missing the podium by two seconds, she finished fourth with a time of 2:07.11 in the final.