Kiera Gazzard

Kiera Gazzard is an Australian artistic swimmer born in Randwick, New South Wales, on 5 November 2001. The Australian Olympic Committee identifies her junior club as Sydney Emerald Synchronised Swimming Club and her senior club as Gold Coast Mermaids, and lists her Olympic events as the women’s duet and women’s team.

Her interest began at age eight, when she noticed an artistic swimming team training at the far end of her local pool. After attending a come-and-try lesson, she was recruited to an under-12 team. She subsequently grew up training at Sydney Emerald before moving interstate to Queensland later in her development, where the AOC says she joined Gold Coast Mermaids to further develop her skills.

Gazzard was part of Australia’s 2017 FINA World Championships team. The AOC records that Australia beat Egypt for the first time in six years, a significant step because Egypt had been Australia’s principal Olympic-qualification rival. In 2018, Gazzard reached a personal goal by becoming the first Australian soloist selected to compete at the FINA World Junior Championships; she also contested duet and team events there, describing the experience as an important senior-development challenge.

Her progress was interrupted before the 2019 FINA World Championships, an Olympic-qualifying event, when she was diagnosed with concussion after being kicked in the head during training. The AOC says she was unable to compete and supported the team from the sidelines while Australia advanced through the qualifying event. In a 2024 Bond University interview, Gazzard described concussion as a recurring risk in artistic swimming and emphasised recovery, caution and disciplined practice.

Gazzard was selected for Australia’s delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic team, with the Games held in 2021, and returned for the Paris 2024 Olympic team. Olympedia records her participation in both editions. At the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, the AOC reports that Australia’s technical team reached its first world-championship team final since 2007, while Gazzard and Carolyn Rayna Buckle became the first Australian duet in more than 20 years to finish inside the top 20 in that championship’s technical duet event.

In Paris, Gazzard partnered with Carolyn Rayna Buckle in the duet and also swam in Australia’s team. The AOC describes their routines as drawing on Charlie’s Angels and Kung Fu Panda, while the team presented technical, free and acrobatic routines. World Aquatics’ official record also lists her 2024 World Cup team results, including a bronze in team acrobatic, alongside her Olympic and championship best scores.

Alongside elite sport, Gazzard studied the Bachelor of Design in Architecture at Bond University and held an ADCO Sports Excellence Scholarship. In Bond’s 2024 interview, she said she had one semester left and credited Bond’s Elite Sport Program with helping her balance study and training. She described an Olympic-level schedule of roughly 40 to 45 hours per week across weights, strength and conditioning, swimming and sport-specific training, and spoke of her teammates as a ‘whole second family.’

Career highlights

• 2017 FINA World Championships team member when Australia defeated Egypt for the first time in six years, according to the Australian Olympic Committee.
• First Australian soloist selected to compete at the FINA World Junior Championships, achieved in 2018.
• Competed in solo, duet and team events at the 2018 FINA World Junior Championships.
• Returned from a 2019 training concussion that ruled her out of the Olympic-qualifying FINA World Championships.
• At the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, helped Australia reach its first team final since 2007 and helped produce Australia's first top-20 world-championship technical duet in more than 20 years.
• World Aquatics lists a 2024 World Cup team-acrobatic bronze and 2024 World Cup team technical and free results among her official record.
• Bond University Bachelor of Design in Architecture student and ADCO Sports Excellence Scholar during the Paris 2024 Olympic cycle.

Selected competition results

Beyond the pool

Gazzard studied architecture at Bond University in its Bachelor of Design in Architecture and was an ADCO Sports Excellence Scholar. Bond reported in 2024 that she had one semester remaining and used the university's Elite Sport Program to coordinate study with an approximately 40–45-hour weekly training schedule. She has spoken about team relationships, injury recovery and the practical use of underwater speakers to hear music while swimming; no reliable source opened for this profile documents further hobbies or a post-sport career.