Alice Tait

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Alice Tait
OAM

Personal information
Full name	Alice Mary Tait
National team	Australia
Born	(1986-05-23) 23 May 1986 (age 38) Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	63 kg (139 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle, butterfly, medley
Club	Chandler Swimming Club Southport Olympic
Medal record Women's swimming Representing Australia Olympic Games 2004 Athens 4×100 m freestyle 2004 Athens 4×100 m medley 2008 Beijing 4×100 m freestyle World Championships (LC) 2005 Montreal 4×100 m freestyle 2003 Barcelona 200 m medley 2003 Barcelona 50 m freestyle 2003 Barcelona 4×200 m freestyle 2003 Barcelona 4×100 m freestyle World Championships (SC) 2008 Manchester 4×100 m freestyle 2008 Manchester 4×100 m medley Pan Pacific Championships 2002 Yokohama 4×100 m freestyle 2002 Yokohama 4×200 m freestyle Commonwealth Games 2002 Manchester 4×100 m freestyle 2006 Melbourne 4×100 m freestyle 2006 Melbourne 50 m freestyle 2006 Melbourne 100 m freestyle 2006 Melbourne 50 m butterfly Universiade 2011 Shenzhen 4×100 m freestyle 2011 Shenzhen 50 m butterfly 2011 Shenzhen 100 m butterfly

Alice Mary Tait, OAM (born 23 May 1986), née Alice Mary Mills, is an Australian former sprint freestyle, butterfly and individual medley swimmer who represented Australia at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics winning two relay gold medals and a bronze.^[1]

Trained by her coach Shannon Rollason at the Chandler Sports Complex along with her good friend Jodie Henry, Tait was selected to make her international debut at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, at the age of 16, where she collected a gold in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, as well as competing in the finals of the 50 m freestyle and 200 m individual medley. She repeated this at the 2002 Pan Pacific Championships in Yokohama, Japan.^{[citation needed]}

2003 saw a big improvement in Tait's performance on the international swimming stage, when she received two silver medals at the 2003 World Swimming Championships in Barcelona, Spain in the 200 m individual medley and 50 m freestyle, breaking the Commonwealth record in the former and the Australian record in the latter. She also collected a silver and bronze in the 4 × 200 m and 4 × 100 m freestyle relays respectively.^{[citation needed]}

2004 was a somewhat mixed year for Tait. She was beaten into 3rd place at the Australian trials in both the 50 m and 100 m freestyle, meaning that she was forced to watch these events from the stands. However, along with teammates Libby Lenton, Petria Thomas, and Jodie Henry, she won gold with a world record time in the women's 4 × 100 metre relay; 3min 35.94s.^{[citation needed]} Later, she performed much slower than her previous best in the 200 m individual medley, being eliminated in the final. She admitted that she had been distracted by the earlier relay triumph. She also picked up a gold by swimming in the heats for the victorious 4 × 100 m medley relay team.^{[citation needed]}

Tait started 2005 by relocating to the Australian Institute of Sport along with Rollason and Henry. She started the year strongly, winning the 50 m and 100 m freestyle at the Australian championships, both in new personal best times, the former in Commonwealth record time.^{[citation needed]} She also qualified in the 50 m butterfly in second place, and came third in the 100 m butterfly (but was not selected as each country is restricted to two entries, despite being ranked third in the world), all in new personal best times. However, she had a form slump at the 2005 World Swimming Championships in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, swimming much slower than at the selection trials, and missing the medals. She collected a gold medal as part of the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay team.^{[citation needed]}

In 2006, Tait qualified and competed at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. She won bronze in the 50 m and 100 m freestyle behind Libby Lenton and Jodie Henry and in the 50 m butterfly behind Danni Miatke and Jessicah Schipper. She combined with Henry, Lenton and Shayne Reese to claim gold in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay.^{[citation needed]}

In late 2006, Tait missed selection for the 2007 World Aquatics Championships.^{[citation needed]} She was part of the bronze medal-winning Australian team in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

In the 2005 Australia Day Honours, Tait was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for "service to sport as a Gold Medallist at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games".^[2][3]

Tait announced her retirement from sports in June 2012.^[4]

Tait is married to the former Scottish Olympic swimmer Gregor Tait.^[5] Their first child, a boy named Vance Charlie Tait, was born in August 2015. In June 2018, they welcomed a second son, Miller Lee Tait.^[6]

• Alice Mills at World Aquatics
• Alice Mills at Olympics.com
• Alice Mills at Olympic.org (archived)
• Alice Mills at Olympedia
• Alice Tait at the Australian Olympic Committee (archive)
• Alice Mills at Commonwealth Games Australia
• Alice Mary Mills at the Commonwealth Games Federation (archived) (2002, 2006, 2010)
• Alice Mills at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games (archived)