Professional Career
Snowsill won the 2000 International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Championship in the 16–20 years age category plus the gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Youth Olympic Festival Triathlon at age 19. She was awarded a scholarship with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and was voted 16–19 years female Triathlete of the Year 2000. She is studying for a degree in health science (currently deferred).
In 2003, Snowsill became ITU World Champion for the first time in Queenstown, New Zealand.
She was the 2004 ITU World Cup Champion and ranked first in the world but was not selected for the Australian team for the 2004 Athens Olympics.
In 2005, Snowsill took her second world crown in Gamagori, Japan, in 35 °C (95 °F) temperatures and 90% relative humidity.
She has won the "Grand Slam" of Chicago, City of Los Angeles, London and New York Triathlons plus multiple ITU World Cup events. She was also the winner of the 2005 and 2006 Lifetime Fitness Triathlons in Minneapolis, and won the Noosa International Triathlon winner three times.
She is the current Australian Olympic distance champion; she won the gold medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
She won another gold medal at the 2006 World ITU Championships in Lausanne, where she finished 45 seconds in front of Portuguese triathlete Vanessa Fernandes. This made her the first female triathlete to win three world titles. The following year in Hamburg, Fernandes gained revenge for the defeat by winning her first world title, beating Snowsill by over a minute.
In 2008, she kicked off to a great start, winning the Mooloolaba World Cup season opener, beating her olympic rival Vanessa Fernandes. Over the year there has been much speculation as to which one of the two athletes would win in Beijing. Snowsill skipped the World Champs out in order to devote all of energy to the Beijing Olympics. She stayed with the leaders in the swim and cycle legs and broke clear in the run. Snowsill won the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics in 1:58:27, 1 minute 7 seconds ahead of Fernandes. Fellow Australian Emma Moffatt won the bronze medal.
On 26 January 2009, Snowsill was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia.
Snowsill recently missed out on selection for the Australian London 2012 Olympic Triathlon Team. She appealed her omission but was turned down by the Tribunal. Snowsill decided not to take her case to the Court of Arbitration for the sport saying "Whilst I am upset with the outcome, I have to respect the decision of the Tribunal and will not be pursuing the matter further." In a gracious response Snowsill went on to wish the three selected women (Emma Moffatt, Erin Densham and Emma Jackson) good luck for their race in London.
Read more about this topic: Emma Snowsill
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