Nicole Livingstone

Nicole Livingstone

Livingstone delivers the 17th Bob Rose Lecture, August 2019.
Personal information
Full name	Nicole Dawn Livingstone
National team	Australia
Born	(1971-06-24) 24 June 1971 (age 53) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	65 kg (143 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Backstroke
Club	Melbourne Vicentre
Medal record Women's swimming Representing Australia Olympic Games 1996 Atlanta 4×100 m medley 1992 Barcelona 200 m backstroke 1996 Atlanta 4×200 m freestyle World Championships (LC) 1991 Perth 4×100 m medley World Championships (SC) 1995 Rio 4×200 m freestyle Pan Pacific Championships 1987 Brisbane 100 m backstroke 1987 Brisbane 200 m backstroke 1995 Atlanta 200 m backstroke 1995 Atlanta 4×100 m medley 1989 Tokyo 100 m backstroke 1989 Tokyo 4×100 m medley 1991 Edmonton 100 m backstroke 1991 Edmonton 200 m backstroke 1991 Edmonton 4×100 m medley 1993 Kobe 4×100 m medley 1995 Atlanta 100 m backstroke 1989 Tokyo 200 m backstroke 1991 Edmonton 4×100 m freestyle 1991 Edmonton 4×200 m freestyle Commonwealth Games 1990 Auckland 100 m backstroke 1990 Auckland 4x100 m medley 1994 Victoria 100 m backstroke 1994 Victoria 200 m backstroke 1994 Victoria 4x100 m medley 1994 Victoria 4x200 m freestyle 1990 Auckland 200 m backstroke 1994 Victoria 200 m freestyle 1986 Edinburgh 100 m backstroke

Nicole Dawn Livingstone, OAM (born 24 June 1971) is an Australian former competitive swimmer. Since retiring from swimming Livingstone has had careers as a television sports commentator and media presenter and as a sports administrator. She was known for a period as Nicole Stevenson, when she was married to Australian cyclist Clayton Stevenson.

Early life

Livingstone grew up in Melbourne and started swimming at 9. She attended Parkdale Secondary College.^[1]

Her mother worked at Metropolitan Golf Club and her father at Carlton & United Breweries.

She had an older brother, Gary and older sister, Karen.^[2]

Swimming career

Livingstone competed for Australia in three summer Olympics - 1988, 1992, and 1996 - winning both individual and team medals. She was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.^[3]

She held the Australian record for the 200-metre backstroke, with at time of 2:10.20, set on 31 July 1992 at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain for 16 years. Meagen Nay broke the Australian record twice at the 2008 Australian Olympic Trials. She is the only Australian swimmer to have competed in six successive Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. Livingstone's coaches included Bill Nelson at Melbourne Vicentre and Gennadi Touretski.

Notable races

• 1991 World Aquatics Championships (Perth), 4x100 medley relay, 2nd place Australia (with Linley Frame, Susie O'Neill, Karen Van Wirdum)
• 1992, 200 m backstroke, set world short course record, Melbourne.
• 1992 Summer Olympics, 200 m backstroke, Bronze medal.
• 1996 Summer Olympics, 4 × 200 m freestyle relay, Bronze medal (with Julia Greville, Emma Johnson, Susan O'Neill)
• 1996 Summer Olympics, 4 × 100 m medley relay, Silver medal (with Samantha Riley, Susan O'Neill, Sarah Ryan)

Media career

Upon retiring from swimming following the 1996 Olympics, Livingstone began commentating on the surf lifesaving and swimming on the Nine Network.^[4]

While at Nine she also had the role of host of Nine's Wide World of Sport, Sports Saturday and Any Given Sunday with Mick Molloy in 2006.^[5]

When the swimming coverage moved to Network 10 in 2009, Livingstone moved stations.^[4]

In 2017 Livingstone co-hosted Sideliners with Tegan Higginbotham on the ABC which was looking to put a female lens on sport.^[6]

Livingstone has also been a sports presenter on Nine News PM Edition and a fill in presenter on Network Ten's Sports Tonight.

Since her retirement, Livingstone has travelled to all six Summer Olympics and at the Commonwealth Games as a commentator for the swimming coverage.

Nicole has worked for Amazon Prime Video in 2021 and 2022 commentating on the Australian Swimming Championships.

She has also been a presenter for Melbourne station SEN 1116 and appeared on a number of programs including The Project and Q+A.

Business and administrative roles

Sporting roles

Livingstone has worked on multiple boards for various sporting bodies, including Swimming Australia,^[6] the Australian Sports Drug Agency,^[7] the Victorian Olympic Council,^[8] and the Victorian Institute of Sport.^[9][10]

Livingstone was elected to the board of the Australian Olympic Committee in 2013.^[11] In 2017, she backed the campaign for Danni Roche to take over as the head of the AOC, and ran in the elections for the executive.^[12] While Roche's campaign was ultimately unsuccessful, Livingstone was the only member of the rival ticket to be elected.^[13]

Between 2012 and 2016, Livingstone served as chief executive of the Melbourne Vicentre Swimming Club.^[14] In November 2017, she joined the Australian Football League as head of women's football^[11] and managing the AFL Women's competition.^[15]

In September 2024, Livingstone was appointed chief executive officer of the Victorian Institute of Sport.^[7]

Other roles

At the time of her appointment to the board of Swimming Australia, Livingstone was also a member of the VicHealth and State Sports Centre Trust boards.^[8]

Following her mother's death from ovarian cancer, Livingstone started Ovarian Cancer Australia and is currently the patron of the organisation.^[1]

Personal life

Livingstone was married to cyclist Clayton Stevenson, and is currently married to cinematographer Marty Smith.^[1]

She has three children, twins Ella and Joshua in 2002, and a second son, Robinson in 2007.^[6][5]

Her mother died from ovarian cancer, and both Livingstone and her sister have both tested positive for the BRCA2 gene. They have both had surgery to remove their ovaries.^[2]

Her father died of prostate cancer in 2014.

Honours

Livingstone was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 1997 for service to swimming as a representative at state, national and international levels.^[16]

A Sydney RiverCat ferry was named after Livingstone in 1995.

She was a finalist for Veuve Clicquot BOLD Woman award in 2021.^[1]

See also

• List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)
• List of Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming (women)

References

1. "AFLW head Nicole Livingstone and former Olympic swimmer says 'sport shouldn't be a full-time job'". Australian Financial Review. 23 July 2021. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
2. Doreian, Robyn (23 June 2016). "Two of Us: Nicole and Karen Livingstone". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
3. AIS at the Olympics Archived 6 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
4. Kalina, Paul (22 September 2010). "'I've earned my place'". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
5. "NICOLE LIVINGSTONE O.A.M." NICOLE LIVINGSTONE O.A.M. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
6. "Nicole Livingstone, 46, champion swimmer, TV host".
7. "VIS appoints new CEO". Victorian Institute of Sport. 3 September 2024. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
8. "Livingstone couldn't sit on the sidelines". PerthNow. 8 June 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
9. "Nicole Livingstone". Q+A. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
10. "Reappointment of VIS Chair Nataly Matijevic". Victorian Institute of Sport. April 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
11. "Livingstone quits AOC board for AFLW role". The West Australian. 16 November 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
12. Baum, Greg (24 April 2017). "AOC board to hold crisis meeting this week". The Examiner. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
13. "Livingstone steps down from Australian Olympic Committee Executive to take up role with AFL". www.insidethegames.biz. 17 November 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
14. Inside with Brett Hawke: Nicole Livingstone, 12 June 2020, archived from the original on 21 December 2021, retrieved 31 October 2021
15. Whiting, Michael (16 November 2017). "Former Olympian named woman's footy boss". afl.com.au.
16. "Nicole Stevenson". Australian Honours Database. Retrieved 3 January 2007.

External links

• Official website
• Australian Institute of Sports: Swimming
• Australian Sports Drug Agency: [1]
• Nicole Livingstone at IMDb