Quartet of stars inducted to Athletics Australia Hall of Fame

Australian athletics has a rich history of success dating back over 100 years.

In celebration of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, the Athletics Australia Hall of Fame was established to recognise the outstanding achievements of Australia’s truly great athletes across the course of this history and since then more than 35 people have been added to the illustrious list.

Formally inducted as part of Athlete of the Year Awards last night were Louise Sauvage and Jennifer Lamy, with Darren Clark and Lisa Ondieki also to be included on the honour roll for 2014. The quartet join the likes of Catherine Freeman, Betty Cuthbert and Ron Clarke on the illustrious list.

The Special Awards Committee has prepared citations to celebrate the inductions, with these detailed in part below.

On behalf of Athletics Australia, we congratulate today’s inductees on their induction to the Athletics Australia Hall of Fame.

ALIX “LOUISE” SAUVAGE OAM (18 Sep 1973 – )
Louise was born in Perth, Western Australia with a congenital spinal condition called myelomeningocele. By the age of ten she had endured 21 operations.

From an early age her parents encouraged her to participate in sports. She started swimming at three years of age and began competing in wheelchair sports from age eight. At ten she became the youngest ever athlete in the National Senior Paraplegic and Quadriplegic Games in Sydney. At age 15 she took up wheelchair racing – a decision which eventually saw her became one of the world’s greatest in the discipline.

In 1990 Louise competed in her first IPC World Championships in Assen, Netherlands and won gold in the 100 metres in a new world record. Unfortunately she was disqualified for a lane violation in the 200 metres after also crossing the line first. In the same year she won five gold medals at the Stoke Mandeville Games in England.

To read the complete citation, please click here.

JENNIFER LAMY (28 Feb 1949 – )
Jenny Lamy was born in Wagga Wagga before moving to Sydney in 1953 where her athletic career began in the 1960’s. Her first club was Manly but she later transferred to Northern Suburbs where she competed for most of her athletic career.

Throughout most of her life as an athlete she was coached by Ken Steward, with former Trinidad Olympian Mike Agostini in the final years.

By 1965, Jenny was the outstanding junior sprinter in New South Wales. In January of that year she ran 10.5 secs for 100 yards in Sydney – ranking her number one in not only NSW but also nationally for the year. She won the junior 100 yards title at the Nationals in Perth in March.

She ran in both senior and junior national championships in Sydney in 1966 as the open events were also the selection trials for the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica.

To read the complete citation, please click here.

DARREN CLARK (6 Sep 1965 – )
Darren was born in Sydney and from a very early age showed promise as a sprinter. His first national appearance was in the 1980 All-Schools Championships in Sydney where he finished sixth in the U17 200 metres in 22.81 secs. The following year in Brisbane, still competing in the U17s he made a mark for the first time – winning the sprint double in 10.89 and 21.88 secs and was second over 400m in 49.16.

At the 1982 National Junior Championships in Brisbane he was just outside the medals in both the 100 (fifth) and 200 (fourth). However by the end of that year, Darren had lowered his bests to 10.52 and 20.90 secs and perhaps most ominously to 46.62 secs for 400 metres. It was a national U20 record.

Those who had not heard of the precocious young talent by then, certainly did three months later when Darren won the junior sprint treble at the Nationals in Melbourne in 10.47, 21.31 and 46.73 secs.

To read the complete citation, please click here.

LISA FRANCES (O’DEA) ONDIEKI (12 May 1960 – )

Lisa was born in Gawler, South Australia and began athletics as a sprint hurdler. She was a champion schoolgirl athlete and competed for Enfield Harriers in Adelaide.

Unfortunately she lacked speed and moved up to 400 metres hurdles in 1978 and set South Australian junior and senior records and finished eighth in the National Under 18 Championships in Brisbane.

In the 1979 Nationals in Perth Lisa finished fifth in the event in 60.73 secs. The following year she was eighth in the Nationals in Sydney and with a much slower time of 64.05 secs. It was time to look elsewhere.

In 1980 she obtained a scholarship to the University of Oregon in the USA where she left the hurdles behind and moved onto longer distances. She competed successfully on the US College circuit and in 1981 ran a personal best over 3,000 metres of 9.22.4 in Berkeley. Two years later in Eugene she reduced this time to 9.14.88 and then set Australian records for 5,000 metres of 16.06.15 in Houston and 10,000 metres of 33.12.1 in Berkeley.

To read the complete citation, please click here.