Hayley Lewis

Hayley Jane Lewis, OAM (born 2 March 1974), is an Australian former competitive swimmer best known for winning five gold medals and one bronze medal at the 1990 Commonwealth Games as a 15-year-old.

Lewis is a former host of The Biggest Loser.

Early life Lewis was born in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. She attended Brisbane State High School, graduating in 1991. During her final year, she captained the Girls Swimming Team.

Sporting career In 1990, at only 15, Hayley became a household name winning five gold medals at the Commonwealth Games. Lewis's 1990 Commonwealth Games gold medals were in the 200-metre freestyle, the 400-metre freestyle, the 200-metre butterfly, 400-metre individual medley and the 4×200-metre freestyle relay. She also won a bronze in the 200-metre individual medley.

At the 1991 World Championships in Perth she won gold in the 200-metre freestyle, silver in the 400-metre freestyle, silver in the 400-metre individual medley, and bronze in the 200-metre butterfly.

For the rest of her career, Lewis focused on the 800-metre freestyle, in which her best Olympic result was a silver medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics and a silver at the 1994 Rome World Championships. She also won a bronze medal in the 400-metre freestyle in Barcelona. At the 2001 World Aquatics Championships, Lewis won a bronze medal in the 5-kilometre open water competition. She had planned to attempt to qualify for the 10-kilometre open water event at the 2004 Summer Olympics, but this event was removed from the competition. She competed at three Olympics.

Post swimming career

Lewis is a previous host of the Australian version of The Biggest Loser between 2010 and 2014. She started the first swimming centre based inside a major shopping centre within Australia in 2002 at Westfield Carindale in Brisbane.

In September 2010, Westfield's redevelopment plans saw Lewis's pool demolished. She now owns a gift and homewares store in Brisbane, Coming Up Roses.

In April 2011, Random House published Hayley's first business book, Dream Believe Create. She married her childhood sweetheart, Greg Taylor, in 1997 and they have two sons, Jacob and Kai. The younger son, Kai Taylor, won a silver in the 4x100 metre freestyle relay in the 2024 Summer Olympics.

She is also a regular contributor to entertainment and lifestyle website Live4.

Honours

Lewis was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1997. She received an Australian Sports Medal in 2000 and a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2003.