Mel Schlanger FROM POOLSIDE TO BEDSIDE
The Aussie gold medal winner dives into a new life as a doctor
As a four-year-old girl, Aussie swimmer Mel Schlanger planned to become a doctor. Thirty years and two Olympic gold medals later, she’s achieved her dream.
“I still can’t believe it – I’m a doctor of medicine!” Mel, now 34, tells Woman’s Day just days after completing her studies at Queensland’s Bond University.
“When I heard my name [called out] it was as surreal as standing on the podium in London after winning an Olympic gold medal.”
Front row at her graduation were her biggest supporters, her husband of six years and former Olympic teammate Chris Wright, 33, and their two beautiful children, Maddison, three, and Thomas, one.
“I get asked how did Chris and I juggle two kids with me studying a Bachelor of Medical Studies and a Doctor of Medicine, while he was a full-time swim coach,” says Mel. “You just have to be organised. Our secret weapon has always been our extended families and friends, who really stepped up.
“I retired from professional swimming in 2016, and two months later I started my degree. I was pregnant within months and struggled with the worst morning sickness. Maddie was born in February 2017, and often Chris or my mum would bring her to the uni and I would breastfeed her in between lectures – we got there in the end!”
‘It was like making the Olympic team!’
Thomas was born in November 2019, just five days after Mel finished her final exams in her penultimate year.
“Bond University is amazing – they moved my exams so I could finish a couple of days before the other students. I likely would’ve been in labour – thankfully I didn’t have to put my classmates through that ordeal!” she says.
Full of praise for the closeknit group of 103 graduates in her year, Mel believes she would never have got through the course without them.
“They’re friends for life and many of them did it a lot tougher than me,” she says. “Everything in my life I’ve achieved has required a strong team effort. Becoming a world and Olympic champion, and now a doctor – neither has been a solo performance.
ACADEMIC HIGHS
“Yes, I was the one on the starting block, but there was an army of people who got me there,” Mel says with her trademark humility.
Her most recent accolades are the latest in a long list of academic achievements out of the pool. Back on dry land, Mel kicked off her studies in 2005, notching up a Bachelor of Biomedical Science, before completing an MBA (Master of Business Administration).
“Getting into medical school was like making an Olympic team. That moment when you know you’ve made it, there’s a combined sense of relief and elation – and then comes, ‘Oh no, what now?!’” she says.
“I knew the day I walked into my first lecture I’d answered my calling. I want to help people live the best life they can.”
It’s been quite the journey for the young girl who only began her swimming career at 15, devoting most of her adult life to representing her country at the sport she loves, while juggling her studies.
“I thought I’d be the oldest in my grad class, but as it happens there were three older than me – proof you’re never too old!” says Mel.
And what do the kids think of their amazing mum?
“Tommy is a bit young to get it, but Maddie is hilarious. She decided at my graduation the best part was my funny hat – she asked if she could wear it to kindy for show-and-tell!”
Mel and Chris recently relocated to the Sunshine Coast, where she started her first placement at the local university hospital in January.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
“This is where I grew up and my family are here. Am I nervous? Gosh no, I’m excited. All these years of study, it’s like training for years and years to go to an Olympics – it’s finally here,” she says.
“Chris is my rock – I would never have got here without him. Choosing this path, I knew I’d make a far bigger difference to the world as a doctor than I could as an athlete. We want our children to know that everything in life is possible with hard work and dedication – and always with a kind heart.”