Shelley Taylor-Smith commemorative plaque

Western Australian marathon swimmer, Shelley Taylor-Smith, won gold at the 1991 World Swimming Championships in the inaugural 25-kilometre distance race, an event that commenced and finished on the Burswood Park foreshore.

A commemorative plaque now stands on the banks of the Swan River, and features a reproduction of a Western Australian newspaper picture that was taken as Taylor-Smith exited the water after her outstanding swim.

The plaque was unveiled on 12 January, 1998, on the 7^th anniversary of her gold medal winning swim.

Career Highlights

• 1983 - broke the world four-mile record
• 1990 - Swum the English Channel
• 1990 - International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame - Inducted
• 1991 - FINA World Swimming Championships – Gold
• 1994 - FINA World Swimming Championships - Bronze
• 1995 - Manhattan Island Marathon Swim – 5:45:25 (WR)
• 2008 - International Swimming Hall of Fame – Inducted
• 2014 - Western Australian Hall of Champions - Inducted

Taylor-Smith's record is all the more remarkable given the obstacles she's overcome that include; growing up with scoliosis, being diagnosed in 1998 with chronic fatigue syndrome and surviving a life-threatening case of Giardia lamblia infection from prolonged exposure to polluted water.

Taylor-Smith was a Burswood Park Board member from 2011 – 2017.