James Roberts – Swimming – 2012, 2016
James Roberts won gold at the World Swimming Championships, represented his country at two Olympics – and hated being in the water as a youngster.
“My sisters would always be in the pool and playing around at my grandparents’ place and I’d be the one sitting there and crying, not wanting to go in,” says the freestyle specialist, who overcame his initial distaste of the pool to compete at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games.
Roberts, who studied a Business degree at Bond University on an ADCO Sports Excellence Scholarship, announced his arrival on the international stage when he won gold and silver at the 2011 World Championships in China as a heat swimmer in the 4x100m freestyle and medley relays.
A personal best in the 100m freestyle final at the 2012 Australian Swimming Championships saw him qualify for the London Olympics. While he returned home without a medal, darker clouds were on the horizon in the form of two shoulder reconstructions, the second just one year before the 2016 Rio Olympics.
While doctors advised him to aim for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Roberts had other ideas and, in one of his greatest moments, not only qualified for the 2016 Olympics but led off the 4x100m freestyle relay to help his teammates win bronze.
Born and raised on the Gold Coast, Roberts has gone on to establish himself as a prestige real estate agent in the city he loves.