Michelle Ford

Michelle Jan Ford ( born July 15, 1962 in Sydney ) is a former Australian swimmer.

At the Olympic Games in 1980 she became Olympic champion over 800 m freestyle and won the 200 m butterfly bronze medal. So she was the only Olympic gold medalist in swimming at these games that did not come from the Eastern Bloc. In 1983 she went to the U.S. to study, and so failed to qualify for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, as the Australian swimming federation had changed the rules for qualification. Frustrated, she then finished her career. In 1994, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame International Swimming Sports.