At just 15 and the youngest member of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Swimming Team, Leisel won two silver medals in the 100m breaststroke and 4x100m Medley Relay, making her one of the youngest Olympic medallists in Australia’s history.
By the age of 18, Leisel was competing in her second Olympic Games in Athens, winning gold in world record time in the 4x100m medley relay, silver in the 200m breaststroke and a bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke. After facing many adversities and setbacks, she finally fulfilled her dream of winning individual Olympic gold in Beijing, 2008 in the 100m breaststroke. She also won gold in the 4x100m medley relay and silver in the 200m breaststroke.
Before farewelling her swimming career (and swimsuit wedgies) forever, Leisel competed in her fourth Olympic Games in London in 2012, finishing on a high by winning a silver medal in the 4x100m medley relay and becoming the first Australian swimmer to compete at four Olympics.
Leisel’s professional swimming career includes 14 individual world records, 9 Olympic medals - 3 Gold, 5 Silver and 1 Bronze, 7 World Championships titles, 10 Commonwealth Games Gold medals and 23 National titles.
Post retirement has seen Leisel’s career include releasing her memoir, Body Lengths; hosting Network Ten’s coverage of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and as a swimming expert commentator for the 7 Network’s Tokyo Olympic Games. Whilst her medals and world records definitely fulfilled the dreams she once had, these days she's driven by a different pursuit as a professional speaker. She is also Co-host of The Drive Show Triple M Brisbane.
Channelling the drive she had in the pool into public speaking, she wants to help people to quieten the ‘noise’ and listen to their true self; to reconnect with their purpose, values and authentic goals, to create a life they absolutely love and deserve.
On stage, she shares a very personal journey of what it is to be an Olympian —the joys, as well as the pain, including the pressures to be thin and to act a certain way, from such a young age and under the harsh glare of public scrutiny and perception. With a humorous, holds-no-punches delivery, Leisel draws parallels between lessons in the pool, and lessons in life to underscore the values of truth, integrity and authenticity in life and business.