- Shelley Taylor-Smith loved the ocean as a child went on to become a world champion marathon open water swimmer.
- In 2025, she started a women’s ocean swim group at Mettams Pool to help others gain confidence in the sea.
- The group now inspires women aged 30–80 to overcome fears, build fitness and complete open water swim events.
Here Shelley Taylor-Smith, 64, Perth, WA tells her own story in her own words.
Torpedoing through the water, I felt right at home.
Panting to catch my breath, as I waded out of the huge Beaver Lake – stretching to 784km of shoreline – in Arkansas, US, there wasn’t another swimmer in sight.
‘I’ve won,’ I boomed, rapt.
Since I was a kid, I’d had a connection with water. Aged six, I learned to swim at Mettams Pool, a sheltered ocean lagoon near where I lived on the northern beaches of Perth, WA.
My little sister, Liz, was a natural in the pool yet loathed it, whereas I adored it but was atrocious.
But with passion and enthusiasm and, after spending hours in the pool having lessons, I improved exponentially.
Feeling the salty water flow over me, I’d never been happier.
Aged 11, glued to the TV, I watched Shane Gould at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games win gold medal after gold medal.
‘I want to be just like her,’ I said to my parents, Mervyn and Irene.
Super keen to be a world champion, I even slept in my swimsuit.
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That same year, I won my first state title in the 200m backstroke.
Even when I was diagnosed with severe scoliosis that year, and had to wear a back brace throughout high school, it didn’t stop me swimming… and winning.
‘You’ll wear the green and gold and be a world champion one day,’ Dad said on his deathbed when I was just 15.
Losing him to cancer, I was heartbroken, but more motivated than ever to fulfil his dying wish.
‘You go you good thing,’ Mum said, when I was awarded a swimming scholarship at the University of Arkansas in 1982.
Now, it was 1983, and aged 22, in the chilly waters of Beaver Lake, I’d completed a 6.4km swim and emerged victorious. I was hooked on long distance, and then marathon, open water events after that.
Graduating from uni, I returned to Australia with a bachelor degree in science and physical education and juggled working as a teacher with competing in – and winning – marathon open water races all over the globe.
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Then in 1991, aged 29, I was crowned world champion, after winning gold in the women’s 25km long distance swim event at the 6th FINA World Championships, held in my hometown of Perth.
It was an incredible moment. Wearing green and gold and standing on the foreshore looking at the Australian flag flying high, with the gold medal around my neck in front of my loved ones, I swelled with pride.
‘This one’s for you, Dad,’ I whispered.
In 1998, when I’d won my fifth Manhattan Island Swim – a 48.5km course in New York – I decided to hang up my competitive togs and went into coaching at local, national and Olympic level.
I loved helping athletes achieve success beyond their wildest dreams. But years on, in January 2025, aged 63, I had an idea.
With a yearning to share my passion for ocean swimming, and disturbed by the rising rates of ocean drownings, I wanted to put my experience to good use.
‘I’m going to start a swim group offering free coaching sessions to help people learn to ocean swim with confidence,’ I said to my friend.
Calling it the Sea Shells Teabaggers – where, like a teabag, you can go for a dip, dunk, float, or a slow swim – I posted the details on a local Facebook community page.
With training sessions at Mettams Pool – the same pool I learned to swim in – on the morning of January 7, 2025, I lingered by the poolside waiting to see if anyone came.
By just after 7am, 30 women had arrived!
‘ I wanted to put my experience to good use’
‘I’ve not dipped a toe in the ocean since I nearly drowned as a kid,’ one lady in her 50s, still clearly traumatised from the experience, confessed.
‘I’ve got you,’ I reassured, holding her hand as she tentatively waded in.
Frolicking and splashing playfully, she had a hoot.
‘That was wonderful,’ she said afterwards. ‘I can’t wait until the next one.’
Over the weeks, her confidence blossomed as she graduated from practising her breathing by blowing bubbles underwater, to dolphin-diving under the waves and freestyling out into the deep blue.
Word of my twice weekly, morning coaching sessions spread, and more ocean lovers aged from 30 to 80 years old came.
By the end of the swim season, I was blown away by the ladies’ progress and, at our end of season soiree, decided to acknowledge their incredible efforts in a special way.
Digging out the hundreds of gold medals I’d won over the years, I presented them as a gift to the Sea Shells Teabaggers.
‘These are for your dedication,’ I said. ‘For getting out of your comfort zone and learning to ocean swim with passion and confidence.’
‘It fills my cup to have connected a community of ladies…in the sea’
Recently, 12 members entered their first open water event – the Busselton Jetty Swim – where over 5000 participants covered distances ranging from 500m to 1.6km and 3.6km.
‘I’ve never done 500m non-stop,’ one of my ladies said afterwards, stoked.
‘You’ve turned my life around,’ another in her early 70s said, who since joining the group had lost 20 kilos and completed the 1.6km course.
I nearly popped with pride as her children and grandchildren whooped and cheered around her.
It fills my cup to have connected a community of ladies who have formed lifelong bonds by soaking their souls in the sea.
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