Sprint king Eamon Sullivan was born in Subiaco in 1985. Sullivanstarted swimming as a way to help with his asthma but only got serious aboutthe sport at the age of 10.
Sullivan made his Olympic debut in 2004 as a relay swimmer inAthens before competing in his maiden Commonwealth Games in 2006 where hehelped his country to gold in the 4 x 100m medleyrelay. The West Australian signalled his intent with two medals at the 2007world championships, including bronze in the 100m freestyle.
He would go on to take the title as the fastest man in the worldthe following year when he became the world record holder in both the 50 and100m freestyle.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Sullivan won three medals, includingsilver in the 100m freestyle, while his remarkable lead off world-record leg inthe 4 x 100m freestyle relay helped the Australians to bronze. He wouldagain represent Australia at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 WorldChampionships and the 2012 London Olympics and was a consistently brilliantrelay performer.
In 2014, Sullivan surprised the competition by taking out the 50mfreestyle at the National Championships to book his place at the CommonwealthGames in Glasgow.
Ultimately, Sullivan was forced to withdraw from Glasgow andannounced his retirement later that year after three shoulder surgeries andfive hip surgeries over his injury-riddled career.
Now a father of two and restaurant owner, he goes down as one ofthe greatest swimmers the State has ever produced.