THE three other sporting superstars who will have their names in stone as part of Leeton's Sporting Walk of Fame are Brian Waters, Matt Dunn and Krishna Stanton.
Each of the three, alongside Mark Taylor and Patricia Thomson, will be unveiled as the first five inductees of the walk of fame at two special events on April 2.
Tickets for the gala evening will be available from the Leeton Soldiers Club from February 18.
Krishna Stanton
BORN in Leeton in 1966, Krishna's sport was distance running and she had a long list of achievements during her career.
She competed at the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992 where she gained a 22nd place in the 3000m.
This was after being bitten on the foot by a spider five days before her race and she was left unable to walk for a few days.
In her own words she said "I did compete but was well below my best".
Stanton also competed in two Commonwealth Games. Her first was at Victoria, Canada in 1994 finishing 11th in the 10,000m.
She gained a podium finish in her second Commonwealth Games at Manchester, England in 2002 winning a silver medal in the marathon.
Australia finished one, two and three in that race with Kerryn McCann winning gold, Stanton silver and Jackie Fairweather bronze.
IN OTHER NEWS:
Stanton was crowned Australian champion six times over her career for the 1500m (1985) 3000m (1985/86/90/93) and the marathon (2001) and was ranked fifth in the world for the 3000m in 1987.
She also ran fourth at the World Indoor championships in 1987 and has represented Australia at four World Cross Country championships in Switzerland 1986, Poland 1987, Belgium 1990 and Boston 1992.
She also had success in many Australian events, including the City2Surf. Stanton is is now the deputy head at the Women's College within the University of Queensland in Brisbane.
Matthew Dunn
DUNN was born in Leeton in 1973. He began swimming in an attempt to aid his chronic asthma and went on to become one of Australia's best all round swimmers.
His first Olympics were in in Barcelona in 1992 where he was a finalist in the men's 200m individual medley and competed in the 400m individual medley.
Dunn continued his Olympic success at the 1996 Atlanta Games with fourth place finishes in the 400m individual medley and 4x200m freestyle relay, as well as securing a fifth place in the 200m individual medley.
His final international competition was at the Sydney Olympics where he competed in the 200m and 400m individual medley. Dunn also competed in two Commonwealth Games.
His first at Victoria, Canada in 1994 was where he won gold medals in the 200m and 400m individual medley and also gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay.
Dunn's gold success continued at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1998 with gold medals in the 200m individual medley and the 4x200m freestyle relay. The relay team, which set a new world record, featured Dunn, Daniel Kowalski, Ian Thorpe and Michael Klim.
Dunn also dominated in the short course at world championships on a number of occasions.
As well as that he won six gold, three silver and three bronze medals at the Pan Pacific Championships ranging from 1993 until 1999.
In 2011 Dunn was appointed to the World Anti-Doping Authorities Athlete Committee and has been a member of the FINA Athletes Commission since 2009.
He also holds a Masters of Commerce from Sydney University.
Brian Waters
WATERS was born in Leeton in 1939 and it was at Sydney University where his athletics career blossomed.
His ultimate career highlight was running at the 1962 Empire Games (now known as Commonwealth Games) in Perth.
He competed in the 440yard, making the semi-final where he finished fourth and in the 4x440yd relay team finishing fourth in the final won by the strong Jamaican team.
Waters was the Australian 100yd champion in 1959 and the 440yd champion in 1961 and was also ranked number one in Australia in the 440yd in 1963 and 1964.
He also won numerous NSW and ACT state championships and held many records for both the 220yd and 440yd events.
Waters broke the 220yd ACT record with a time of 21.4 seconds in 1962, which wasn't broken until 1980 by Bruce Frayne with an Australian record electronic time of 20.59 seconds and a handheld time of 20.4 seconds.
While living in Cooma Waters also had a stint at playing rugby union and was a winger who would have been unstoppable in the clear.
He was selected in ACT teams and in 1966 was selected for NSW Country Seconds on the wing, but work commitments didn't allow him to play.
He was selected for a 2nd time later in the year but this time a leg injury prevented him playing.
Waters was the secretary of the Cooma Athletic Club and, when he returned home to Leeton, was also instrumental in starting Leeton Little Athletics, which has continued on until this day.
He was awarded bib number 329 by Athletics Australia. A bib is awarded to athletes that represent Australia at an elite level.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.irrigator.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News
