With thanks to Sport Australia Hall of Fame
Seven of the nation’s finest sporting figures are set to join our most prestigious honour roll, with the Sport Australia Hall of Fame today naming its Inductees for 2026.
The class of 2026 features Olympic and Paralympic gold medallists, World Cup winners, a Golden Slam champion, a record-breaking Ironman, and the coach behind the Kookaburras’ first Olympic gold medal. The Inductees’ exceptional achievements and contributions are matched by exemplary reputations nationally and internationally.
The new Athlete Members are tennis Golden Slam winner and four-time Paralympic gold medallist Dylan Alcott AO; Olympic moguls gold medallist Dale Begg-Smith OAM; three-time Olympic basketball medallist Sandy Brondello; record eight-time Australian Ironman champion Shannon Eckstein; four-time World Cup-winning cricketer Lisa Sthalekar; and four-time Olympic softball medallist Natalie Ward.
Barry Dancer is being inducted as a General Member. Regarded as one of Australia’s most successful coaches, he guided the Kookaburras to their first Olympic gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, almost 30 years after winning Olympic silver as a player.
Membership as an Athlete Member of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame belongs exclusively to the top echelon of Australian athletes who have achieved the highest honours at the peak level of competition. General Members are recognised for their outstanding contributions to sport in visionary and vital supporting roles.
The 2026 Inductees will be welcomed at a landmark moment for the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, with Melbourne Park and the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) recently announced as its permanent home.
This year’s Induction and Awards Gala, on Tuesday, November 24, will be the first staged at Melbourne Park, the Hall of Fame’s principal partner, which will host the Gala and Heroes & Legends broadcast each year, as well as a diverse year-round calendar of events to connect the community with athletes Together with the Sport Australia Hall of Fame gallery inside the Australian Sports Museum at the MCG, it gives Australia’s sporting greats a home in the heart of Melbourne’s sporting precinct.
The honour roll of Inductees into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame features the nation’s biggest sporting names and champions, including: Sir Donald Bradman AC, Dawn Fraser AC MBE, Cathy Freeman OAM, Ian Thorpe AM, E.J. “Ted” Whitten OAM, Raelene Boyle AM MBE, Wally Lewis AM, Shane Gould OAM MBE, Sir Jack Brabham AO OBE, Greg Norman AO, Lauren Jackson AO, John Eales AM, Mick Fanning AO, Susie O’Neill AM, Rod Laver AC MBE, Bart Cummings AM, Louise Sauvage OAM, Layne Beachley AO,Tim Cahill AO, Lleyton Hewitt AM, Torah Bright OAM, Mark Schwarzer OAM and Cameron Smith AM, among other luminaries.
Those in this elite and newly expanded group are our most revered and respected sporting champions; individuals whose results on the greatest sporting stages and across the spectrum may not always have attracted headlines but share a common dignity, integrity, courage and humility.
Each member of the class of 2026 has made a significant impact on Australian sport, not just through personal excellence but as a role model for future generations and by helping to foster a strong sporting culture in a nation so proud of its rich sporting history.
To be eligible for consideration by the Selection Committee, athletes must be retired from their sport for four years.
