Pacific Rim Swimmers of The Year
The Pacific Rim award was introduced in 1995, the year after two Australian swimmers—Kieren Perkins and Samantha Riley—became the first two Pacific Rim swimmers to be named as World Swimmer of the Year. It has subsequently been dominated by Australian swimmers, who have won 24 of the 32 awards given. Ian Thorpe won six awards (five consecutively) and Susie O'Neill has won four (three consecutively). Australia’s success has been built on female butterfliers (O’Neill and Petria Thomas), female breaststrokers (Riley and Leisel Jones), and male freestylers (Thorpe, Grant Hackett and Michael Klim). Kosuke Kitajima (Japan) is the only non-Australian swimmer to have won the award more than once (in 2003, 2007, 2008, and 2010).
| Year | Female Winner | Nationality | Male Winner | Nationality |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | O'Neill, SusieSusie O'Neill | Australia | Miller, ScottScott Miller | Australia |
| 1996 | Le, JingyiJingyi Le | China | Loader, DanyonDanyon Loader | New Zealand |
| 1997 | Riley, SamanthaSamantha Riley | Australia | Klim, MichaelMichael Klim | Australia |
| 1998 | O'Neill, SusieSusie O'Neill | Australia | Thorpe, IanIan Thorpe | Australia |
| 1999 | O'Neill, SusieSusie O'Neill | Australia | Thorpe, IanIan Thorpe | Australia |
| 2000 | O'Neill, SusieSusie O'Neill | Australia | Thorpe, IanIan Thorpe | Australia |
| 2001 | Thomas, PetriaPetria Thomas | Australia | Thorpe, IanIan Thorpe | Australia |
| 2002 | Thomas, PetriaPetria Thomas | Australia | Thorpe, IanIan Thorpe | Australia |
| 2003 | Jones, LeiselLeisel Jones | Australia | Kitajima, KosukeKosuke Kitajima | Japan |
| 2004 | Henry, JodieJodie Henry | Australia | Thorpe, IanIan Thorpe | Australia |
| 2005 | Jones, LeiselLeisel Jones | Australia | Hackett, GrantGrant Hackett | Australia |
| 2006 | Jones, LeiselLeisel Jones | Australia | Park, Tae HwanTae Hwan Park | South Korea |
| 2007 | Lenton, LibbyLibby Lenton | Australia | Kitajima, KosukeKosuke Kitajima | Japan |
| 2008 | Rice, StephanieStephanie Rice | Australia | Kitajima, KosukeKosuke Kitajima | Japan |
| 2009 | Schipper, JessicahJessicah Schipper | Australia | Lin, ZhangZhang Lin | China |
| 2010 | Coutts, AliciaAlicia Coutts | Australia | Kitajima, KosukeKosuke Kitajima | Japan |
| 2011 | Shiwen, YeYe Shiwen | China | Yang, SunSun Yang | China |
| 2012 | Shiwen, YeYe Shiwen | China | Yang, SunSun Yang | China |
Read more about this topic: Swimming World Swimmers Of The Year
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