NEWS
RMIT graduate wins gold in Rio
RMIT graduate and champion shooter Catherine Skinner is on top of the world after winning gold at the Rio Olympics.
Skinner, who graduated last year with a Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical Engineering) (Honours), claimed Australia's third gold of the Games with victory in the women's trap.
She took up trap shooting at the age of 12, and while studying at RMIT competed at three Summer Universiades, winning silver in 2011, gold in 2013 and bronze in 2015.
Skinner also competed in the women’s trap event at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, where she reached the semi-finals.
Before her gold medal triumph - at her first Olympic Games - a career highlight was finishing third at the 2014 World Championships in Granada to secure Australia an Olympic quota for Rio.
Lisa Weightman has won titles as a marathon runner. Photo: Athletics Australia/Getty Images
Fellow RMIT graduate Lisa Weightman will be looking for marathon success in her third Games and hoping to improve on 17th place in London in 2012.
Weightman, who graduated with a Bachelor of Business (Information Systems) in 2000, is a Certified Senior Managing Consultant (Business Architect) in IBM’s Global Business Services practice.
She has consulting experience across a range of industries including banking and finance, retail, telecommunications, government, sport and recreation.
Among her athletic career highlights are winning bronze in the marathon at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010 and winning the Melbourne Marathon in 2013.
RMIT student Jared Tallent OAM is captaining the Australian athletics team in Rio.
With his three Olympic walking medals (gold, silver, bronze), Tallent is one medal away from having the most medals of an Australian male athletics competitor, according to the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) website.
He won silver at the 2012 Games, but was last month awarded the gold in a ceremony in Melbourne after the Court of Arbitration for Sport stripped Sergey Kirdyapkin of his medal for drug-taking.
In the process, Tallent assumed the Olympic record with a time of 3 hours, 36 minutes and 53 seconds.
Tallent is studying for a Bachelor of Business (Financial Planning) with RMIT through Open Universities Australia.
According to the AOC, he became the first male track and field athlete to win two medals for Australia at a single Games in more than a century, with bronze (20km) and silver (50km) in Beijing in 2008.
He is also the only Australian male athletics competitor to win a medal in consecutive Games.
Walking champion Jared Tallent has three Olympic medals and is aiming for more. Photo: Athletics Australia/Getty Images
Professor Belinda Tynan, RMIT’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education and Vice-President, congratulated the trio on making the Rio team.
“It’s tremendous to see current and former students making their mark on the Games. The whole RMIT community wishes them success.
“Here at RMIT, we know university life isn’t just what happens in the lecture theatre or laboratory.
“Getting involved in sport, or culture or student clubs is not just fun – it gives students the experience and responsibility that gets them ready for life and work.
“I’d encourage students to check out all the opportunities on offer.
“And while most of us get involved in sport for fun, RMIT supports students who do make it through to elite status.”
Former RMIT Olympians
Sarah Cooper – footballer (2000)
Steven Hooker – pole vaulter (2008 record)
Lydia Lassila – aerial skiier, attended 4 Olympics from 2002 to 2014
James Tomkins – rower, attended 6 Olympics from 1998 to 2008
Lee Naylor – middle distance runner (1996, 2000)
Story: David Glanz