Bronte Campbell is a Malawian-born Australian competitive swimmer, an Olympic gold-medal winner and world champion. Her older sister, Cate, is also a competitive swimmer, and once held world records in both the short and long course 100 metre individual freestyle events. Bronte and Cate are the first Australian siblings on the same Olympic swimming team since the 1972 Olympics and the first Australian sisters ever to compete within the same swimming event at the Olympics. Bronte Campbell won three gold medals at the 2015 World Championships, including the 50 and 100 metre freestyle events.
Early life
Campbell is the second of five children born to Eric and Jenny Campbell. She has an older sister, Cate, two younger sisters and a younger brother, Jessica, Abigail and Hamish. Hamish has severe cerebral palsy and requires around-the-clock care. She shares a birthday with Hamish, with Hamish being four years younger. Jenny used to be a synchronised swimmer and taught her four daughters to swim.
Career
Her family moved from Malawi to Australia in 2001 and she and Cate joined the Indooroopilly Swimming Club in Brisbane that same year. Their coach at Commercial, Simon Cusack, continues to coach both sisters. In 2009, Bronte won gold in the 50 metre freestyle at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival then in 2011, she won gold in the same event at the 2011 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships in Lima, Peru.
2012
Campbell competed in the women's 50 meter freestyle at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She and her sister Cate swam in the same heat, finishing second and third, respectively, and qualifying for the semi-final in ninth and tenth place, respectively.
At the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, she won three gold medals and one bronze. She finished first in the 100 metre freestyle event, beating Sarah Sjöström and Cate Campbell, and the 50 metre freestyle event, beating Ranomi Kromowidjojo and Sarah Sjöström. She also won gold in the 4×100 metre freestyle relay, beating the Dutch and US teams by a comfortable lead, and a bronze medal in the 4 × 100 metre medley relay behind the Chinese and Swedish teams.
2016
At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Campbell represented Australia in both the 50 m and 100 m freestyle, as well as the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay. Despite being the reigning world champion in the 50 and 100 m freestyle, she did not win a medal in these events.
Personal life
Campbell is a student at Queensland University of Technology, where she is studying Business, majoring in Public Relations. Campbell attends a local Baptist church in Brisbane. Until December 2016, Campbell lived with her sister, Cate. As of 2017, they are no longer housemates, and she currently resides in Coorparoo. She is also a talented poet, writing poems and reading them out to the swim team before a competition to give them motivation.
