They’ve represented their country on the world stage and brought home swags of gold, silver and bronze medals. But many Australian Olympians have also gone on to run their own businesses after their professional sporting careers have come to an end.
From selling skincare products and clothing, to running cafes and restaurants, these elite sportspeople have applied the same commitment and dedication they displayed in the pool and on the field to building their own business.
As members of Australia’s current Olympic team put the final touches on their preparations for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, which kicks off in Paris this weekend, we’ve rounded up some of the Australian Olympians who have gone on to start or run their own business.
Melissa Wu will enter the history books in Paris as the first Australian diver to compete in five Olympics.
Wu made her Olympics debut at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, taking home a silver medal. She also competed at the 2012 and 2016 Games, and won bronze at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
But this Olympian has found success outside of the pool too, as the co-owner or founder of three businesses. This includes the HrdKAW Strength and Weightlifting Club, which Wu owns with her brother Josh Wu; the Australian Diving Academy, which is co-owns with former diving teammate Kevin Chavez; and activewear label Havok Athletic.
Aerial skiing champion Lydia Lassila is no stranger to the medal podium, or the daily tasks of running a small business.
Lassila represented Australia at 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 Winter Oympics, taking home a gold medal in 2010 and bronze in 2014.
However, after suffering a knee injury during the qualifying round for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, she found herself with a winning idea for a new business.
That business, BodyICE, produces versatile heat and cool packs to help athletes, both amateur and professional, recover faster from injury. The company also has a range for children and for postpartum mothers.
At the Geelong Small Business Festival in 2017, Lassila shared insights into how she sets goals for herself, both on and off the slopes. The key is defining, visualising and then connecting with the vision you have for your future self, she said.
“In a relaxation state … with no distractions around … you imagine your future self, your future business, your future life, whatever you are focusing on,” she explained.
“And you imagine them over there in the distance and you see them, and you see how they are carrying themselves.
“That person for me was the Lydia that had won the Olympic gold medal; the Lydia that was jumping to the same quality and standard as the men; the Lydia that broke those world records.”
Polish-born Australian swimmer Michael Klim competed in the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympics, scooping up two gold medals, three silver and one bronze.
After retiring from professional swimming, Klim founded skincare company Milk & Co as a line of men’s skincare products in 2008. A year later, his former wife Lindy Klim identified an opportunity to develop a range of natural skincare products specifically for babies and ‘Milk Baby’ was launched. A range of skincare products for women was launched in 2013.
Milk & Co products are stocked in 13 countries around the world and in 2016, the business was turning over more than $5 million a year, according to Fairfax.
Klim reportedly sold the business to a consortium of investors in 2017 and later departed in 2021, the details of which were subject to a now-settled lawsuit.
According to reports, the former Olympian now operates a swim school in Bali, where he has lived for many years.
The website for Milk & Co is not currently operating and its social media accounts have not been updated for months.
Olympic gold medal swimmer Dawn Fraser was the licensee of the Riverview Hotel in Balmain, Sydney, from 1978 to 1983.
Fraser represented Australia in the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympic Games, winning gold at all three games in the 100 metre freestyle event.
Another Australian Olympic swimmer to pursue business opportunities is five-time gold medal winner Ian Thorpe, who represented Australia at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics.
Thorpe has been involved in a number of business ventures, including designing and launching his own range of underwear called “it”, which was at one point stocked in David Jones department stores. In 2002, Thorpe launched a line of jewellery through Autore Pearls. In 2016, he got tongues wagging after posting a tweet suggesting he was starting his own pool-cleaning company.
However, Thorpe was not set to dive into the pool cleaning industry; the tweet was part of a campaign by Optus to send four small business owners to the Rio Games.
In 2019, Thorpe reportedly launched a performance coaching business called Beon with former Australian cricketer Shane Watson.
Aerial skier Alisa Camplin won gold for Australia at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, following up with a bronze medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
After retiring from professional competition in 2006, Camplin launched her own ski touring company, Alisa Camplin Ski Tours, which involved guided skiing tours to US resorts such as Aspen and Steamboat Springs.
Camplin also spent 16 years as an executive for IBM and is a director on several boards, including the Collingwood Football Club, and is a performance and business consultant.
Swimmer Hayley Lewis has run multiple small businesses and is even the author of a book of business tips, called Dream Believe Create: A Woman’s Guide to Small Business.
After winning silver and bronze medals for Australia in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and competing in the 2000 Olympics, Lewis launched the Hayley Lewis Swim School in 2001.
But the swim school, which closed in 2010, was not Lewis’s first business venture or her last. Her first two attempts at running small businesses involved a dog-walking service and selling cushions at markets.
Lewis is now the owner of Brisbane gift shop Coming Up Roses.
Basketball legend Shane Heal represented Australia at four Olympics, including as captain of the Australian men’s basketball team at the 2004 Games.
His business career has involved motivational speaking, basketball coaching through Elite Basketball Development, and running quick-service food outlets.
According to Heal’s LinkedIn profile, he has previously owned numerous Urban Burger stores and at one point was the franchisor of Urban Burger.
He also operated Subway, Noodle Box, Zarrafas Coffee, Eagle Boys, and Baskin Robbins franchises between 2003 and 2011.
Swimmer Eamon Sullivan, pole vaulter Steve Hooker and hockey star Jamie Dwyer may have represented Australia in three different sports but the trio went on to form a winning team in the hospitality industry, opening Perth restaurant Bib and Tucker.
Sullivan, who swam for Australia at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics and picked up two silver and one bronze medal, also manages several other restaurants in Western Australia, and won the 2010 Celebrity Masterchef television series.
Hooker won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Oympics, while Dwyer has a gold medal from the 2004 Athens Games, and bronze medals from Beijing and London. In 2016, Dwyer represented Australia again in the men’s hockey tournament in Rio.
Winter Olympian Anton Grimus grew up in a business household, with his family running an Austrian-style pension, ski hire and restaurant, the Hotel Pension Grimus, at Mt Buller in Victoria. Grimus owns a hole-in-the-wall coffee shop, located at the Hotel Pension Grimus, called Grimus Grind.
Grimus represented Australia at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, where he competed in the men’s Ski Cross event, and at the PyeongChang Games in 2018.
Australian Shane Gould holds the honour of being the only swimmer to hold all freestyle records at the same time. Competing in the 1972 Olympic Games, Gould won three gold medals, one silver and one bronze.
Gould lives in Tasmania, where she owns and operates Beach End Bicheno Accommodation on the state’s east coast.
Representing Australia at the Olympics in 1992 and 1996, former pole vaulter Simon Arkell is now the co-founder and CEO of AI software company Ryght, based in the US.
He recently told The Australian Financial Review that he attributes his business and sporting success to being willing to take “large but calculated risks”.
The entrepreneur has founded several tech companies, including one that was reportedly sold for more than $100 million.
This is an updated version of an article that was first published in 2016.
Do you know of other Australian Olympians who have run their own business? Let us know in the comments below.
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Editor
Eloise is an experienced business journalist and editor, who has held senior editorial roles at SmartCompany since 2014. Prior to joining SmartCompany, Eloise was news editor at Books+Publishing, the trade press for the Australian book industry. Eloise has degrees in media and communications, marketing and business management, and political science. You can follow her on LinkedIn, and Twitter at @ellykeating.
