Andrew Baildon

Australian swimmer

Andrew James Baildon (born 25 August 1971) is an Australian former freestyle and butterfly swimming champion, who represented Australia in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul and the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Baildon was born on 25 August 1971, on the Gold Coast, Australia. His father, Gary Baildon, was mayor of the Gold Coast from 1994 to 1995, and again from 1997 until 2004. has been awarded Knight of Grace (Order of St John), Doctor of the University (Griffith 2005), The Centenary Medal, The 1995 Australian Tourism Council Award, Paul Harris Fellow (Rotary International), in 2010 Gary was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM), is the 2016 Gold Coast Citizen of the Year and returned to local government in 2016 as a Gold Coast Councillor. Baildon has two sisters, Kate (deceased) and Anna. At the age of two, Baildon sank to the bottom of his family's pool and nearly drowned and his older sister, Kate, saved him. His mother, Kathy, promptly booked him into swimming lessons five days a week and so began his swimming career. Baildon studied at The Southport School (TSS) from 1979 to 1988, was the Kaiser House Captain and School Foundation Prefect, attained TSS Sporting Colours in Year 9 and became Cadet Under Officer in the TSS Cadets. As a 16 year old schoolboy, Baildon was the youngest male selected to represent his country at an Olympics (Seoul 1988) since Australian Michael Wenden (dual Olympic Swimming Gold Medallist, World Record Holder and Commonwealth Champion). As well as equalling Wenden's record of four gold medals at a single Commonwealth Games, Baildon became his son in law when he married Karen Wenden (1989 Miss Universe Miss Photogenic, Queensland state level swimming champion) at The Southport School (TSS) in 1998. Baildon was a Foundation Student at Bond University from 1989 to 1995, attaining a Bachelor in Communication (Marketing). Baildon has two children with his wife Karen, Yasmin and Flynn.

Andrew was a medalist at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand where he became the first swimmer in the Commonwealth to break the 50 second barrier for the 100 m freestyle, breaking his own Commonwealth record to win gold (49.80s), and the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada. He was a medalist in the 4 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. In 1990, Andrew achieved the No. 1 World ranking for 100 m Butterfly (Short Course). Andrew was the Australian Team Representative for over a decade, an Australian record holder for the 50 and 100 metre freestyle from 1989–1996 and the Commonwealth record holder for most of that period. He was ranked in the top twenty swimmers in the world for over a decade.