Nova Peris-Kneebone

Novis Peris-Kneebone started out in athletics in hockey (field), winning Olympic gold in 1996. She also won titles with the Hockeyroos at the 1994 World Cup and the 1993 and 1995 Champions Trophy. In 1997 she switched sports to athletics, where she starred as a sprinter, winning two Commonwealth Games gold medals at Kuala Lumpur in 1998 in the 200 metres and 4x100 metre relay. She ran for Australia at the 2000 Olympics in the 200 and 4x400 relay.

In 2013 Peris, by then divorced from Aboriginal football star Sean Kneebone, joined the Australian Labor Party and stood as a candidate for Senate from the Northern Territory. She won that election, becoming Australia’s first female Indigenous federal parliamentarian.

Personal Best: 400 – 51.28 (2000).