Madeline Groves
Madeline Groves is a butterfly specialist from Queensland, Australia. She trains at St. Peters Western in Brisbane with Coach Michael Bohl, who also coached Stephanie Rice. She’s recently jumped onto the scene in international swimming, and is among the world’s best in both the 100m and 200m butterfly.
Fun facts
Groves has stated that her favorite movie is Goodfellas and her favorite TV show is The Young Ones. When she’s not in the pool, Groves could most likely be eating her favorite food, sushi, or her favorite drink, iced coffee.
National and international career
Groves was relatively unknown until 2013, when she was the national champion in the 200m butterfly. Prior to that, Groves was one of the top junior competitors in Australia, but found it difficult to break into the top level of swimming. She took a break from the pool after suffering some frustration, and after 18 months, she found the tools she needed to be successful at that senior level.
In 2014 she repeated as the national champion in the 200m butterfly, and was selected to the Commonwealth Games team. At the Games in Glasgow, Groves had a huge swim, finishing with a bronze medal in her best event. She also was a heat swimmer on Australia’s gold-medal winning 800m freestyle relay.
The same year she followed up her successful meet in Glasgow with a performance at the Pan Pacific Championships. Groves snuck into the final of the 200m butterfly, finishing seventh overall.
At the 2015 Hancock Prospecting Australian Swimming Championships Grove set a new all comers record in the 200m butterfly, successfully defending another national title in the event. At the time of her swim it had her listed as the no. 1 swimmer in the world.
2016 Rio Olympics
Groves finished 2nd in 200M Butterfly by just three one hundredths of a second gold medalist Mireia Belmonte Garcia of Spain.
2018 Pan Pacific Championships
On day 2, Groves anchored the women’s 4×200 free relay in 1:56.47 to hold off a charging Katie Ledecky and secure gold for the Aussie women in 7:44.12, breaking the pan pac championship record.
