Lara Davenport
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Lara Shiree Davenport | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |
 Australia
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| Born |
12 June 1983 Sydney, New South Wales |
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| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 63 kg (139 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Freestyle | ||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Kingscliff SC | ||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Lara Shiree Davenport OAM was born on the 22nd December in Sydney, New South Wales. In 2006, she relocated to Kingscliff, Northern NSW to train with at the High Performance Institute – New South Wales Institute of Sport by Greg Salter. During her Olympic pursuit Lara was the Ambassador for Pacific Hoists. She completed her Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology) at Bond University. She is currently the Chair of the Queensland Olympic Council Education Commission and a member of the Victorian Olympic Council Education Commission.
Davenport gained a scholarship at the New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) in 1999. She represented Australia at the East Asian Games: Osaka, Japan in 2001 winning three gold medals in the 100- and 200-metre butterfly, and the 4×200-metre freestyle. She competed internationally at the Mare Nostrum World Tour (Europe – 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008) and the short course World Cup Tour (2003, 2004) medalling in butterfly and freestyle events. In 2004 Lara represented Australia at the Oceania Championships: Suva, Fiji winning gold medals in the 200-metre freestyle and 4×200-metre freestyle and a silver in the 200-metre butterfly. In 2005, Lara made her first major Australian team competing at the World Championships: Montreal, Canada and won a silver medal as part of the 4×200-metre freestyle relay (heat swimmer). In 2006, Davenport made a career changing move relocated to Kingscliff and due to a back injury specialized in freestyle events. In 2006, Lara competed at the World Short Course Championships: Shanghai, China resulting in a gold and silver medal in the 4×200-metre and 4×100-metre freestyle relay (heat swimmer). At the 2007 World Aquatics Championships in Melbourne. Lara gained selection into the final team (Jodie Henery, Stephanie Rice, Lara Davenport and Libby Trickett) after posting the second fastest split of among all swimmers. The team came 4th in the final which fueled a strong competitive team culture in the lead up to an Olympic year.
At the 2008 Australian Swimming Championships she qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing as a member of the 4×200-metre freestyle relay. Lara swam the final leg of the heats in Beijing safely qualifying the final team. Lara successfully posted her personal best at the Olympics demonstrating her ability to perform under pressure. As part of the 4×200-metre freestyle relay, Davenport won gold when the first-choice quartet won the final in a world record time.
Lara has stated that during her swimming career that she was coached by some of the world's best coaches and mentors that assisting her to reach the pinnacle of sport, the Olympic Games. Overcoming injury, missing team selection by 0.01 of a second and overcoming adversity outside of the pool have been credited by her as an integral part of her development within the sport. Lara was the head coach at Kingscliff Swimming Club and is actively involved in giving back to the sport through mentoring and involvement education programs about the philosophy of the Olympic Movement.
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