Lisa Weightman

DOB: 16 Jan 1979

Age: 42

Coach: Dick Telford
Event: Marathon
Instagram: LisaWeightman
Occupation: Business Analyst IBM

Lisa Weightman is set to become a four-time Olympian in Tokyo, with all four appearances coming in one of the most gruelling events on the Olympic schedule - the marathon. The feat is a testament to Weightman's dilligence as an athlete throughout her career as she joins an exclusive club of four-time Olympians. 

Weightman was a good junior distance runner, gaining places over 3000m at the national junior championships. But during her teenage years, she had battled stress fractures in the tibia. Into her early 20s, she was a steady national level track runner from 1500m to 10,000m and cross country athlete. In 2006, aged 27, she was selected for the World Road Running Championships and the following year the World Cross Country Championships.

In early 2008 she made a very impressive marathon debut, clocking 2:32.22 at the London Marathon. The performance earned her selection for the Beijing Olympics where she placed 33rd. In 2009 she started the year with 17th at the World Cross Country Championships ahead of lowering her PB to 2:30.42 and placing an excellent 17th at the World Championships. In 2010 she ran her first sub-2:30 marathon, winning Nagano in 2:28.48. She closed the year with a bronze medal in the Delhi Commonwealth Games marathon.

At her second Olympics, she placed 17th in London in a PB time of 2:27.32. It was the highest placing by an Australia at the Olympics for 12 years. In the Melbourne Marathon in 2013 she sliced 87 seconds from her PB clocking 2:26.05, to become the fifth fastest in Australian history. In 2014, she took a maternity break, giving birth to a son Peter. She ran her next marathon in January 2016 and clocked 2:27.25 in Houston, to earn selection for the Rio Olympic Games where she placed 31st. She ran two high-quality marathons in 2017. Starting with a PB 2:25.15 in London, elevating her to number three Australian all-time. In October she ran 2:28.45 for sixth in Chicago, her 13th marathon of her career.

In January 2018 she was selected to compete in her second Commonwealth games, where she won silver on home soil in a time of 2:33:23. 

Over the following years Weightman would string together a series of strong marathon results - including a ninth place finish in the 2019 Chicago Marathon, along with coming fifth at the Osaka Marathon in early 2020 in a time of 2:26:02. These performances saw Weightman selected to a fourth Olympic team for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. 

In 2015, Lisa and her employer, IBM, created a software application called Optimal Me. It was developed to analyse data about what Lisa eats, how she feels, her rest, when she trains, and other factors of life as an athlete. Her father, Peter Weightman was a player, coach and administratorer in the VFL/AFL at clubs Fitzroy, Hawthorn, Port Adelaide and Carlton.