Michelle Ford-Eriksson MBE was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985 as an Athlete Member for her contribution to the sport of swimming.
Michelle Ford-Eriksson is one of Australia’s greatest swimmers, winner of the gold and bronze medals at the Moscow 1980 Olympic Games, dual world record holder and multiple Commonwealth Games medallist.
Set against the politics of the cold war, an Olympic boycott and the emergence of systematic, state-sponsored doping, Michelle competed during a time of great upheaval within the Olympic Movement and world sport.
Raised in Sans Souci on Sydney’s southern beaches and a student at St Georges Girls High School, Michelle gave notice as a future world-beater when the slight blond was the fastest 12-year-old in the world over 100m freestyle. The following year, at 13, she was the youngest member of the Australian Olympic Team to be selected to compete in the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games. At 15, Michelle broke her first world record in the 800m freestyle, only to break it again 16 days later with a time of 8 min 30.53 seconds.
Two years later, in Moscow 1980, Michelle was the only non-Soviet Bloc female swimmer to win a gold medal in the pool, and Australia’s only individual gold medallist across all sports, male or female. Australian female swimmers would not win another Olympic gold medal in the pool for 16 years, until Atlanta 1996.
In 1981, Michelle was invited by IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch to join an elite group of Olympic gold medallists from around the world to represent all athletes at the Olympic Congress in Baden-Baden, Germany. They were the first group of athletes ever invited to present to the IOC Members and the wider Olympic Movement in the IOC’s then 87-year history, covered in the chapter ‘The Athletes Voice’.
Michelle was subsequently appointed by President Samaranch to become a founding member of the IOC Athletes Commission, Australia’s first ever member of this important and powerful oversight Commission. She joined other champions and future leaders such as Thomas Bach, IOC President since 2013, Sebastian Coe, President of World Athletics and President of London 2012, Kipchoge (Kip) Keino, the great dual Olympic champion and humanitarian from Kenya, and Vladislav Tretiak, 10 x World Champion and 3 x Olympic gold medallists in ice hockey, who went on to become President of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation and has been a Member of the Russian State Duma since 2016.
Michelle attended the University of Southern California ‘USC’ under scholarship, graduating with a master’s degree in Sports Psychology and a bachelor’s degree in business communication. She has worked as a Director of Sports at the University and Polytechnic College of Lausanne, Switzerland. She also worked for the Sydney 2000 Organising Committee as NOC Regional Manager for the Oceania. She has held directorship positions with the Australian Sports Commission, Australian Sports Foundation, and Swimming Australia.
Ford has supported the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship and Mentoring Program by being a Mentor to cyclist Ashlee Ankudinoff (2011).
Honours & Achievements
- 1977,1978 & 1980 named Australia’s “Outstanding Swimmer of the Year”
- 1980 & 1981 named Australian Sports-star of the Year
- 1980 Helms award
- 1981-1984 Scholar Athlete Award, University of Southern California, USA,
- 1984 made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE)
- 1985 Inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame,
- NSW Hall of Fame
- 1985 Selected on the inaugural IOC Athletes’ Commission1982 Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the Queen Elizabeth II Honours list,
- 1994 Inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame, Florida, USA,
- 2000 awarded an Australian Sports Medal
- Fastest 12-year-old swimmer in the world 100m freestyle
- Olympic Gold Medallist 800 meters Freestyle, 1980 Moscow
- Olympic Bronze Medallist, 200 meters Butterfly, 1980 Moscow
- Olympic Record Holder, 800meters Freestyle, 1980
- Two-time World Record Holder, 800 meters Freestyle
- Commonwealth Gold Medallist, 200 meters Butterfly (1978,1982)
- Commonwealth Record Holder, 200 meters Butterfly (1976-1984)
- Commonwealth Record Holder, 400 meters Freestyle (1977)
- Commonwealth Record Holder, 800 meters Freestyle (1977,1978)
- Ten Years International Representative for Australia in swimming (1975-1985).
- Youngest swimmer to qualify on the 1976 Olympic Team (at 13 years)
- Two-time Olympian, 1976 and 1980
- 31 National Australian Records
