Lisa Curry


Lisa Gaye Curry AO MBE, also known by her married name Lisa Curry-Kenny, is an Australian former competition swimmer.
Curry won 15 gold, seven silver and eight bronze international swimming medals, and is the only Australian swimmer to have held Commonwealth and Australian records in every stroke except backstroke. She was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.
Curry was the chair of the National Australia Day Council from 2000 to 2008.

Swimming career

Curry's swimming ability was noticed at a young age and by the age of 12 was one of the fastest swimmers of her age in the world. From 1977 to 1992, she represented Australia 16 times. She won 15 national long course open titles and competed in World Championships in 1978 and 1982. Curry had success in three Commonwealth Games - a silver medal in the 4×100-metre medley relay at Edmonton in 1978, three gold medals and a bronze at Brisbane in 1982, and four gold medals and one silver at Auckland in 1990. Curry also competed in the Olympic Games at Moscow, Los Angeles and Barcelona. After retiring from swimming, she competed in surf boat rowing competitions and outrigger canoe events, and her team won the World Championship Outrigger Canoe event in 1997.

Honours

On 31 December 1982, Curry was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire "in recognition of service to the sport of swimming". She was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985. At the 1994 Australian Day Honours, Curry was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia "in recognition of service to the sport of swimming". On 14 July 2000, Curry was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for "her significant contribution as a competitor in swimming". On 1 January 2001, Curry was awarded the Centenary Medal for "service to Australian society through swimming and the National Australia Day Council". At the 2008 Australian Day Honours, Curry was named as an Officer of the Order of Australia "for service to the community through encouraging national pride and identity, particularly through leadership of the National Australia Day Council." In 2009 Curry was inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame.

Television

In 2011, Curry appeared as a celebrity contestant on the first season of Nine Network's Australian reality series The Celebrity Apprentice Australia. Curry was fired in the 6th task.
She appeared in advertising campaigns for cruise liner P&O Cruises Australia and Uncle Tobys.
In January 2017, Curry was revealed as a celebrity contestant on the third season of Network Ten's Australian reality series I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. On 8 March 2017, Curry was the 9th celebrity eliminated from the series after 41 days in the jungle coming in 6th place.
Curry was the subject of the episode of Who Do You Think You Are? aired on 9 June 2020.

Business interests

Curry and former husband Grant Kenny co-own the Curry Kenny Aviation Group, which in 2009 owned approximately 60 aircraft.
Curry has a partnership with Naturopath Jeff Butterworth in the company Happy Healthy YOU, featuring the products Happy Hormones, Happy Greens and Happy Turmeric. Happy Healthy You was launched in Australia in 2015 and has grown into resource for women dealing with hormonal conditions with over 65,000 women following Lisa's advice and taking the health supplements.

Personal life

Curry was married to Grant Kenny, former ironman surf lifesaver and olympic bronze medallist, in 1986. They have three children, including model Jett Kenny. Curry and Kenny separated in May 2009. In 2008 Curry had a heart surgery operation to implant a defibrillator after being found to have an irregular heartbeat as a consequence of a viral infection.
In October 2016, Curry announced her engagement to entertainer Mark Andrew Tabone. They married in May 2018.