Treading Water

In the water, Tracey Wickham was a marvel. Out of it, she was a mess. The five-time world record holder never seemed blessed with good fortune like so many other famous Australian swimmers. In her heyday, the late Seventies, when Tracey reached the top in her sport, there was simply no money in swimming. With the collapse of her parent's marriage, Tracey was raised by her mother, Elaine and grandfather, Dave Colborne. They were so poor that Elaine used to turn off the car engine traveling down hills and debate whether to buy a 20c apple for Tracey's school lunchbox. Nevertheless, Tracey went on to conquer the swimming world. She set two world records in 1978 that stood for over a decade. Her 400m time of 4.06.28s, set at the Berlin World Championships, stood for 29 years as the Australian and Commonwealth record until it was broken by another Brisbane girl, Bronte Barratt, in 2007. Bronte wore the controversial, sleek, super-fast swimsuit-Tracey had an old-fashioned nylon suit (lycra hadn't even been invented then.) A fiery, feisty competitor, Tracey was Australia's greatest female middle distance swimmer. A descendant of the inventor of the Australian Crawl, Alick Wickham, Tracey was small in stature but huge in heart. The legendary Dawn Fraser once said that she had never seen a swimmer with such a ferocious killer instinct. Seemingly tireless, she swam like a threshing machine, her metronomic up-tempo rhythm never changing, regardless of the distance. She won 23 national titles, was Australian Sports Star of the Year in 1979 and was awarded the MBE for her Services to Sport. She was inducted into both the Australian and World Swimming Halls of Fame. After her final triumph, winning two gold medals at the 1982 Commonwealth Games, she was the star attraction in a tickertape parade before her adoring fans. But, at the age of 19, she retired. Gold medals don't pay the bills. Tracey had to earn a living. She became a swimming commentator and reporter on television lifestyle programs. She fell in love and got married, had a baby and seemed fulfilled. But the script didn't work that way. She was in demand before the Olympics but not afterwards. Restless and unfulfilled, she attempted a comeback. She lost weight, trained hard and started winning races again, this time as a marathon swimmer. Just when the media were asking whether she would make the Commonwealth Games team, she fell pregnant again-and that was it. Lady Luck didn't smile on Tracey Wickham. With the collapse of her husband's business, their marriage dissolved. As a single mother, Tracey battled to keep a job, earn a living, and maintain custody of her children. She had several disastrous relationships, one of which saw her savagely bashed and hospitalized. Her daughter Hannah was diagnosed with cancer and, when she died, Tracey's life spiraled out of control. Broke and alone, she suffered from depression, spending long periods in hospital after becoming addicted to pain-killers.