NSWIS Most Outstanding
This honour represents the outstanding achievement and unique personal contribution by an NSWIS athlete to their sport.
Alyson Annan OAM
After debuting for Australia at the age of 18, Alyson Annan OAM made a name for herself as one of the world’s most skillful hockey players as the Hockeyroos dominated the international scene. An attacking midfielder, Annan first made the history books at the 1998 Commonwealth Games when she became Australia’s highest ever goal scorer with a total of 110 goals. She scored 149 goals for Australia in 201 international appearances.
Annan picked up gold medals at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Throughout her career Annan also won Commonwealth Games gold, four Champions Trophy gold medals and a host of other international gold medals.
Bradley McGee OAM
Four Olympic games and a five-medal haul for Bradley McGee OAM point to the cyclist’s decorated athletic career.
McGee was both a track & road cyclist, and was on scholarship with the NSW Institute of Sport for ten years between 1998 and 2008.
Ian Thorpe AM
A two-time Olympian, Ian Thorpe AM is regarded as one of the greatest athletes of all time. He won five Olympic Games gold medals, the most won by any Australian and, in 2001, became the first person to have won six gold medals in one World Championships. Thorpe won eleven World Championship golds, the highest number of any swimmer of his time.
Thorpe was named World Swimmer of the Year four times by Swimming World magazine, and was the Australian Swimmer of the Year from 1999 to 2003. At the age of 14, Thorpe became the youngest male to represent Australia, and his victory in the 400m freestyle a few months later at the 1998 Perth World Championships made him the youngest individual male World Champion. After that victory, Thorpe dominated the 400m freestyle, winning the event at every Olympic, World, Commonwealth and Pan Pacific Swimming Championships until the 2004 Olympics.
Kurt Fearnley AO
Newcastle-born, Kurt is a three-time Paralympic gold medallist and two-time Commonwealth Games gold medalist. He has won over 40 marathons, including New York, Chicago and London in an incredible athletics career which spanned five Paralympic Games campaigns.
His career culminated with his wheelchair marathon victory at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, where he was also chosen to be the Australian flag-bearer for the closing ceremony.
Liz Ellis AM
Liz Ellis AM is the former captain of the Australian and Sydney Swifts netball teams, the most capped Australian international netball player (122 caps) and one of Australia’s most recognisable sports people.
Ellis won two Commonwealth Games gold medals from the Kuala Lumpur and Manchester Commonwealth Games and in 2007 realised a lifelong dream by captaining the Australian netball team to a World Championship victory. Ellis had previously won two World Championship titles as part of the Australian team.
Louise Sauvage OAM
Louise Sauvage, OAM (born 18th Sept 1973) is one of Australia’s most successful athletes. Sauvage has nine gold and four silver medals, from four Paralympic Games, and three gold medals from the 800m demonstration event at three Olympic Games. She represented Australia at the 1993, 1995, 1997, 2001 and 2003 IAAF World Athletic Championships, winning gold in the 800m Wheelchair demonstration event each time.
The 2000 Sydney Olympic and Paralympic Games were a career highlight for Sauvage who carried the Olympic Torch across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and lit the cauldron to mark the commencement of the Games. In the 800m demonstration race at the 2000 Olympics, Sauvage won gold before a home crowd of 110,000. She went on to win two gold medals and one silver medal at the Paralympics.
Matthew Mitcham OAM
An NSWIS scholarship holder since 2007 and coached by Chava Sobrino, Mitcham’s career-defining moment came at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games when he won gold in the men’s 10m platform.
The winning dive came in the last round of the competition when Mitcham scored 112.10 points, notching the highest score of any dive in Olympic history.
Michael Milton OAM
Michael Milton OAM (born 21st March 1973) is one of Australia’s most internationally successful athletes. With the loss of his leg at the age of nine to bone cancer, Milton was determined to conquer the slopes, and that he did.
With 11 Paralympic medals, six of these gold, Milton showed the world he was unstoppable, dominating the Winter Paralympic Games in 2002 winning four gold medals.