Holly Jane Young (née Lincoln-Smith[1] born 26 March 1988) is an Australian former water polo player. Her sister is skeleton competitor Emma Lincoln-Smith. They are the first set of Australian siblings where one competed at the Summer Olympics and the other at the Winter Olympics.

Holly Young
Personal information
Birth nameHolly Jane Lincoln-Smith
Full nameHolly Jane Young
Nationality Australian
Born (1988-03-26) 26 March 1988 (age 36)
Sydney
Height183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight85 kg (187 lb)
Sport
SportWater polo
EventWomen's team
ClubCronulla Water Polo Club
TeamCronulla Water Sharks
Medal record
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2012 London Team competition
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2013 Barcelona Team competition
FINA World Juniors
Gold medal – first place 2007 World Juniors Team competition
Canada Cup
Gold medal – first place 2011 Canada Cup Team competition
FINA World Cup
Silver medal – second place 2010 Christchurch Team competition

In 2006, she was made her first appearance on Australia's senior team, with her first major international tournament representing Australia being the 2009 FINA World League Super Finals. As a member of Australian national sides, she has earned gold medals at the 2007 FINA Junior World Championships and 2011 Canada Cup, and a silver medal at the 2010 FINA Women's Water Polo World Cup. She represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze medal[2] and also at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Personal life

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Lincoln-Smith was born on 26 March 1988 in Sydney.[3][4] She has two sisters and is her parents's youngest child.[5] As of 2010, she resided in Narrabeen, New South Wales.[3] In 2004, she was living in Warriewood, New South Wales.[6] In 2005, her father had open-heart surgery in order to remove a tumour and her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.[3][7][8] In 2009, her oldest sister died "after a long battle with anorexia and depression".[3][7][9] In 2010, her sister Emma Lincoln-Smith represented Australia at the 2010 Winter Olympics in skeleton.[3][7] The sisters are hoping to become the first set of sibling Olympians where one competed at the Summer Games and the other at the Winter Games.[7][10] She is currently involved in a long-term relationship.[3]

In 2001 at the age of 12, Lincoln-Smith competed in the U13 finals of the NSW Junior Surf Life Saving Championships.[5][11] During the event, she rescued fellow competitor Tom Fabian, who was in distress. She left the course to rescue him, and after helping, got the attention of the safety crew on a boat, resumed her swim and finished 27th in the field of 40 swimmers.[5][11]

Lincoln-Smith attended Mackellar Girls School, where Debbie Watson was her physical education teacher.[3] In 2005, she completed her Higher School Certificate while a student at Queenwood School for Girls.[8] She went on to attend Macquarie University where she is doing a course on Human Resource Management.[3][12] As of 2011, she was in her third year of the programme.[13] In 2008, she earned a scholarship from Macquarie Sports to help her focus on water polo. As part of the scholarship, the Macquarie Group required her to spend a week in their offices where she received some "work experience as a trader in foreign exchange".[12]

Lincoln-Smith is right-handed[3] and has a tattoo on her left ankle of a cherry blossom, which represents her family.[3][7]

She married in 2014.[14]

Water polo

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Lincoln-Smith is a centre forward[7][15] and prefers to wear cap number two or four.[3] She started playing the sport as a 13-year-old at Mackellar Girls Campus where Debbie Watson, an Olympic gold medalist and the school's water polo coach, nagged her to try the sport.[3][10] She has held a scholarship for water polo from the New South Wales Institute of Sport[16][17] and the Australian Institute of Sport.[18]

In 2004, she represented New South Wales at the U17 national championships where the team came out on top, and she was the leading goal scorer and named the player of the tournament.[6] This victory was one of the contributing factors to her getting a call up to the junior national team.[6] In 2008, she represented New South Wales as a member of the U20 team at the national championships. Her team took home gold after a 9–6 victory over Western Australia where she scored three goals in the match. The 2008 win was her fourth and final U20 national championship win.[19] In 2009, shortly after her eldest sister's death, she seriously injured her shoulder when she dislocated it while at the gym and required reconstruction surgery on it.[7][9] As a result, she was unable to compete in water polo for nine months.[3][7][9]

Club water polo

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Lincoln-Smith played her club water polo for the Cronulla Water Polo Club in the National Water Polo League.[3][20] She was a member of the team in 2009[21] and 2011.[20] She was with the club for the 2012 season that started in February.[22][23] As a member of the team, she helped them win the first two games of the season 8–4 and 7–4.[24] She took a break from the team following their 18 February 2012 game in order to attend the national team training camp. Her last game before the break was against the Balmain Tigers.[25] She did not play in the National Water Polo League in 2010 because of an injury.[15]

Junior national team

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Lincoln-Smith has represented Australia on the junior national level. Her first call up to the team was in 2005[3][7] when the U17 and U20 teams toured the United States and Europe.[3] She was a member of the junior national side at the 2007 FINA U20 World Championships in Porto, Portugal[26] that took home gold.[3]

Senior national team

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Lincoln-Smith was a member of the Australia women's national water polo team.[27] She competed in a tournament in the United States for the senior side in 2006 because Melissa Rippon and Taniele Gofers were injured.[28] In 2009, she was part of the Australian side that finished third at the FINA World League Super Finals in Kirishi, Russia.[21][29] This was her first major tournament on the senior side.[21] In 2009, at the FINA World Championships where Australia finished sixth,[30] she was named by her team as the Australian Player of the Tournament.[7][9] This was her first major international tournament with the team.[3]

In 2010, Lincoln-Smith was a member of the Stingers squad that competed at the FINA World Cup in Christchurch, New Zealand[31][32] that took home a silver medal.[3] She was part of the Australian side that won a silver medal at the 2011 Kirishi Cup in June. In the game for the medal, they played Kazakhstan women's national water polo team. In that match, she scored three goals.[33] At the 2011 Canada Cup, she scored a goal in the first period in the gold medal match against China that the Australian team ended up winning.[27] She represented Australia at the 2011 FINA World Championships.[10] She competed in the Pan Pacific Championships in January 2012 for the Australian Barbarians.[34] She was part of the Stingers squad that competed in a five-game test against Great Britain at the AIS in late February 2012. This was the team's first matches against Great Britain's national team in six years.[35] In the first game of the test series on 21 February 2012 that Australia won 13 – 5, she scored one goal.[36] She was part of the squad that won bronze at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Retirement

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Lincoln-Smith retired from water polo after competing in the 2016 Summer Olympics.[37] She said in 2017 "Physically, I would not have been able to continue playing. After two major shoulder surgeries, thumb surgery, back and hip issues, I had to walk away."[14]

Post playing

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In 2017, she developed an app for planning weddings.[37][14]

Awards

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In 2005, the New South Wales Institute of Sport awarded Lincoln-Smith the Ian Thorpe Grand Slam International outstanding achievement award, and she had an opportunity to meet Ian Thorpe.[8]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "OLYMPIC BRONZE MEDALLIST HOLLY YOUNG INSPIRES SEAFORTH PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS AT WORLD TEACHERS DAY VISIT". 4 May 2023. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  2. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Holly Lincoln-Smith". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Australian Water Polo Inc.: Lincoln-Smith, Holly". Sydney, Australia: Australian Water Polo. 20 December 2011. Archived from the original on 20 February 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  4. ^ "Final Aussie Stingers Olympic train on Squad Announced". International Business Times. 6 February 2012. Archived from the original on 14 March 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  5. ^ a b c Milohanic, Sonia (11 March 2001). "Spot of calm in sea of trouble". The Sunday Telegraph. Sydney. p. 36. STE-20010311-1-036-4372830V1. Retrieved 5 March 2011.
  6. ^ a b c "Holly's fine water polo form recognised". Manly Daily. Sydney. 9 November 2004. p. 30. MAN_T-20041109-1-030-881384. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Balym, Todd (27 January 2012). "A tough act to follow – 'Some of my best years in sport and water polo have also been some of my worst'". The Courier Mail. Brisbane. p. 94. CML_T-20120127-1-094-526316. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  8. ^ a b c "Happy ending to Holly's mixed year". Manly Daily. Sydney. 10 December 2005. p. 106. MAN_T-20051210-1-106-681717. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  9. ^ a b c d Jeffery, Nicole (16 May 2011). "Touched by tragedy, Olympic hopefuls have fought their way back". The Australian. Melbourne. p. 41. AUS_T-20110516-1-041-046329. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  10. ^ a b c Prentice, Andrew (7 July 2011). "Holly to make a splash in China". Manly Daily. Sydney. p. 28. MAN_T-20110707-1-028-740026. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  11. ^ a b "Surf rescue drama". Manly Daily. Sydney. 6 March 2001. p. 3. MAN-20010306-1-003-4060597V7. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  12. ^ a b "Scholarship to aid Holly in her quest". Manly Daily. Sydney. 12 June 2008. p. 37. MAN_T-20080612-1-037-499014. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  13. ^ "2011 Sports Scholars- Holly Lincoln Smith". New South Wales: Macquarie University. 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2012.[permanent dead link]
  14. ^ a b c "This Is Going To Change The Way You Plan A Wedding". Australian Women's Health. 12 September 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  15. ^ a b Forrest, Brad (3 May 2011). "Cronulla power through to finals series". St. George and Sutherland Shire Leader. New South Wales, Australia. 2151588.
  16. ^ Forrest, Brad (17 August 2010). "'Ticker' gets team a big win". St. George and Sutherland Shire Leader. New South Wales, Australia. 1915382. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  17. ^ "Quartet in line for London". Sydney, Australia: New South Wales Institute of Sport. 6 February 2012. Archived from the original on 13 April 2013. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  18. ^ "Athletes : Australian Institute of Sport : Australian Sports Commission". Bruce, Australian Capital Territory: Australian Sports Commission. 5 January 2010. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  19. ^ "NSW remain a dominant force in water polo". Manly Daily. Sydney. 22 January 2008. p. 22. MAN_T-20080122-1-022-508199. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  20. ^ a b "Sharks lose in shootout heartbreaker". St. George and Sutherland Shire Leader. New South Wales, Australia. 9 May 2011. 2158629.
  21. ^ a b c Forrest, Brad (10 June 2009). "Top trio is in Australian side for Russia". St. George and Sutherland Shire Leader. New South Wales, Australia. 953f336cd27823e857ec9b9c5a5d7d74336077. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  22. ^ Forrest, Brad (5 February 2012). "Push to get star in the pool – Local News – Sport – Waterpolo – St George & Sutherland Shire Leader". Theleader.com.au. Retrieved 17 February 2012.[permanent dead link]
  23. ^ Carayannis, Michael (16 January 2012). "Australian water polo player living the dream". St. George and Sutherland Shire Leader. New South Wales, Australia. 2421703. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  24. ^ Forrest, Brad (4 February 2012). "Push to get star in the pool". St. George and Sutherland Shire Leader. New South Wales, Australia. 2441948. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  25. ^ Forrest, Brad (16 February 2012). "Forrest Fires: Water polo side tries to stay afloat". St. George and Sutherland Shire Leader. New South Wales, Australia. 2458211. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
  26. ^ Australian Water Polo Inc. (2009). "Australian Water Polo Inc.: Junior Women Squad". Sydney, Australia. Retrieved 1 March 2012.[permanent dead link]
  27. ^ a b "Aussie Stingers finish Canada Cup undefeated after claiming gold over China : News Centre : Australian Sports Commission". Ausport.gov.au. 20 December 2011. Archived from the original on 21 January 2012. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  28. ^ MATP (3 December 2006). "WATER POLO — New pair to make splash". The Sunday Telegraph. Sydney, Australia. p. 77. STE_T-20061203-1-077-660221. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
  29. ^ Forrest, Brad (10 June 2009). "Top trio is in Australian side for Russia". St. George and Sutherland Shire Leader. New South Wales, Australia. 953f336cd27823e857ec9b9c5a5d7d74336077. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  30. ^ "Australian Water Polo Inc.: Ralph, Glencora". Sydney, Australia: Australian Water Polo. Archived from the original on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
  31. ^ "Southern makes Stingers". Innisfail Advocate. Australia. 18 August 2010. p. 16.
  32. ^ Forrest, Brad (17 August 2010). "'Ticker' gets team a big win". St. George and Sutherland Shire Leader. New South Wales, Australia. 1915382. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
  33. ^ "Smith and Zagame fire up as Stingers show strength". St. George and Sutherland Shire Leader. New South Wales, Australia: Fairfax Community Newspapers. 8 June 2011. 2187291. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  34. ^ Packwood, David (1 January 2012). "London looms as a splash and grab job – - COUNTRY SPORT". The Sunday Telegraph. Sydney, Australia. p. 073.
  35. ^ Tuxworth, Jon (21 February 2012). "Stinger survivors in the swim for third Olympics". The Canberra Times. Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. p. 19.
  36. ^ "Scoreboard". The Canberra Times. Canberra, Australia. 22 February 2012. p. 19.
  37. ^ a b Sarah Swain (29 July 2019). "Holly Lincoln-Smith retired from water polo after Rio and has now started a wedding app". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). Retrieved 16 May 2023.
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