Eamon Sullivan - Career

Career

In April 2002 at the Australian Age Championships, Sullivan won the 50 m freestyle and came second in 100 m in his age group, and swam for Australia at Trans Tasman series with no dramatic result.

At the 2004 Olympic trials he grabbed a spot in the 4x100 Freestyle relay team by finishing fourth in the final. At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens Eamon as the youngest male in the Australian Olympic Team and improved his Personal Best in the heat time that gained him a spot in the final of the 4x100 m freestyle, in which Australia was dethroned in the event they had won 4 years ago in Sydney.

In July 2005 he was sidelined with a hip injury and missed the World Aquatics Championships in Canada.

In March 2006 he won gold in 4x100 m medley and silver in 4×100 m freestyle at Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games setting a new Commonwealth record. He also anchored the 4x100m freestyle relay to capture silver. In December, at the Australian National Championships he broke the 50 m national record in 22.00 s and became the fastest swimmer Australia had ever seen.

In July 2007 Sullivan had an alerting win in 50 m free at the Santa Clara International Invitational Grand Prix in California in 22.30 s. In the same month he clocked 21.62 s to slash 0.07 s off Brett Hawke's seven year old 50 m Short Course Australian record at Telstra Grand Prix2 in Canberra. He set another National Record at FINA/ARENA World Cup at SOPAC in the heats of the 100 m freestyle clocking a time of 47.29 s shaving 0.26 s of his previous best set in Canberra earlier that year.

Eamon has also sustained several injuries throughout his career. He has struggled with hip problems and has had allegedly 6 hip operations, along with numerous shoulder sprains.

Leading off Australia in the Men's 4 x 100 m Freestyle Relay final he set a new world record for the 100 m Freestyle with a time of 47.24 seconds, collecting bronze in the Relay in what is largely quoted as the greatest swimming relay race in history.

In the subsequent individual 100 m Freestyle, Sullivan emerged as the fastest swimmer from the heats and semi-finals, Alain Bernard of France re-claimed the World Record set by Sullivan in the relay with a time of 47.20 s. Five minutes later Sullivan reclaimed the 100 m Freestyle World Record in the second semi-final in time of 47.05 s. In the finals Sullivan claimed the silver medal, edged out by Bernard by 0.11 s. In the 50m final, Sullivan finished in a disappointing 6th place.

Just two weeks before the 13th FINA World Championships in Rome, Sullivan was ruled out from competing due to a virus. Two months later, Sullivan's training camp came to an abrupt end when he was rushed into a clinic for an appendectomy. He was attending a high-altitude training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona, when he was taken ill. Eamon Sullivan was a member of the controversial Australian Olympic swimming team during the London 2012 Olympic games and competed in the Australian men's 4 x 100 metre relay team. The squad and team were hounded by allegations of bullying, alcohol and drug abuse and he made a media appearance to both acknowledge and deny specific allegations, along with team members Tommaso D'Orsogna, James Magnussen, Cameron McEvoy and Matt Targett.