After an inauspicious Commonwealth Games debut in the 200m breaststroke at Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, Zac Stubblety-Cook (swimming) has risen to became the undisputed champion in the event – he was crowned Olympic champion in Tokyo in 2021, and world champion and Commonwealth Games champion in Budapest and Birmingham in 2022. And just for good measure, he broke the world record at the selection trials for Birmingham.

Izaac (Zac) started swimming at the Wellers Hill Water Ratz in the Brisbane suburb of Tarragindi. He was soon a top-ranked junior, taking his first national age record in 2012. Selected for the Junior Olympic Cup in Tokyo a year later, all was going well until doctors discovered a golf-ball sized tumour in his left shoulder in 2015. After a six-month rehab he was uncertain of his swimming future but rose again to win selection for the 2017 world junior championships, 2018 Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championships, and 2019 world championships.

After winning Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021, Zac said it was only the second time he’d seen his coach Vince Raleigh cry.

Zac is studying psychological science and business at Griffith University and has also worked with the Australian Olympic Committee on their Reconciliation Action Plan.