Sheila Taormina set the standard for being a multi-talented, multi-dimensional, multi-sport elite competitive athlete among women. What she has accomplished in nothing but mind boggling.
Taormina, now 54, previously attempted to qualify for pool swimming at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics, but feel short. Always a hard worker, she earned a Masters in Business Administration in 1994, and then began to work full-time in the automotive industry. Two years later, at the age of 27, Taormina found herself earning a spot on the USA Olympic Swim Team and ultimately winning a gold medal.
But her athletic journey was not over – not by a long shot.
Before her athletic career was over, she transformed herself into an elite athlete in six different Olympic disciplines: pool swimming, cycling, running, pistol shooting, fencing, and equestrian show jumping.
After her gold in 1996, she transformed herself to an elite triathlete and qualified to the inaugural Olympic triathlon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics where she finished sixth. She kept on competing in triathlon, ultimately winning the 2004 ITU Triathlon World Championships and qualifying for another Olympics where she finished 23rd at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
After three Olympics, her thirst for new areas to challenge herself continued. Taormina took modern pentathlon that includes one-touch épée funcing, 200m freestyle in the pool, equestrian show jumping over 12 obstacles, and a combined pistol shooting and a 3.2 km run. She won the 2005 Pan American Championships and finished 19th in the 2008 Beijing Olympics modern pentathlon.
She was the first woman to qualify for the Olympic Games in three different sports. She then set off as a motivational speaker, author (of three books: Swim Speed Secrets, Swim Speed Workouts, and Swim Speed Strokes) and coach.
Today in Kona, Hawaii at the 2023 Ironman World Championship, another multi-sport phenom is competing and is tagged as one of the race favorites: Lucy Charles-Barkley of Great Britain.
A former and current elite pool and open water swimmer, Barkley has finished second in the Ironman World Championship four times (in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2022). She finished 8 minutes behind her American rival Chelsea Sodaro in 2022 and is expected to be the first woman out of the water.
In 2012, she attempted to qualify for the London Olympics 10 km marathon swim after winning the Great North Swim when she upset silver medalist Keri-Anne Payne, but it was not to be. Most recently, she finished second in the 2020 British Swimming Olympic Trials in 16:46.26, just 0.17 seconds behind Leah Crisp. Charles-Barclay made the Olympic time standard, but was not selected to join the British Olympic Team.
She is now focused on the Ironman. Coached by her husband Reece, another former swimmer, the conditions look great for today’s Ironman. Watch the Ironman live here.
For more information and photographs, visit @ironmantri.
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