| Shrone Austin | |
| Fullname: | Shrone Austin |
| Strokes: | Freestyle, breaststroke |
| Birth Date: | 31 January 1989 |
| Birth Place: | Victoria, Seychelles |
| Height: | 1.750NaN0 |
| Weight: | 700NaN0 |
| Show-Medals: | yes |
Shrone Austin (born January 31, 1989) is a Seychellois swimmer, who specialized in freestyle and breaststroke events.[1] She first competed in the women's 100 m breaststroke at the 2004 Summer Olympics, before turning her sights on the long-distance freestyle at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Apart from her Olympic career, Austin had collected a career total of six medals (three silvers and three bronzes) in two editions of the All-Africa Games (2003 and 2011).[2]
Austin made her own swimming history, as Seychelles' youngest ever athlete (aged 15), at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, where she competed in the 100 m breaststroke. Swimming in heat one, she raced to third and forty-third overall in her lifetime best of 1:19.02, almost a full-second margin behind Armenia's Varduhi Avetisyan (0.15) and three-time Olympian and leader Katerine Moreno (0.67).[3] [4]
At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Austin decided to drop her breaststroke specialty, and instead challenge herself with a long-distance freestyle. Swimming against Hungary's Boglárka Kapás, and Thailand's Natthanan Junkrajang (who later forced to pull out from the prelims) in heat one of the 400 m freestyle, Austin came up with a steady swim throughout the race, but could not catch her Hungarian rival near the wall to finish only in second and forty-first at 4:35.86.[5]
Austin also competed in three events at the 2006 Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne, Australia, she competed in the freestyle events for the 200 metres,[6] the 400 metres[7] and the 800 metres[8] but didn't reach the final in any of the three events.
Austin won the Seychelles Sportswoman of the year in 2003 when she was just 14 years old.[9]