An Australian Surf Life Saving icon, Naomi Flood is also a two-time Olympic kayaker and becomes the first woman inducted into the Sport NSW Hall of Champions for her achievements in surf competition.
Naomi was honoured in front of a room packed full of sporting greats and finalists for the NSW Sport Awards on 24 January in Sydney.
A nipper from Sydney’s Northern Beaches, Naomi was a member of several clubs but it was with Manly LSC that the teenager stamped her mark in the sport she would come to dominate in NSW for almost a decade.
Her breakthrough came in 2000/01 when she won the Under 16 Ironwoman event. She first won the NSW Open Ironwoman title in 2004/05 before capturing the 2006/07 Australian Open Ironwoman title.
Naomi claimed the NSW Open Ironwoman title five times in a row from 2004, and the Open Surf Race four times in five years from 2005 to 2009. She was virtually unbeatable on NSW and Australian Championships in the single and double ski events between 2007 and 2015, along with wins in Board, Surf Belt and Taplin team relay events.
Naomi also represented Australia at International Lifesaving Federation events where she won 16 gold, six silver and 3 bronze medals between 2006 and 2014 and in 2008, she claimed the World Ironwoman title.
Flood turned her hand to kayaking in 2009 and in 2011 she picked up the bronze medal in the K1 1000m event at the World Championships in Hungary and won gold in the same event at the 2012 Sprint World Cup in Russia. She competed at the London 2012 Olympic Games in the K2 500m with Lyndsie Fogarty and represented Australia again at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
During her Surf Life Saving career, Naomi won over 65 NSW medals, 52 of them gold. At Aussies, she won 21 gold, 7 silver and 8 bronze medals, making her a true legend of our sport.
In 2013 Naomi became the first female life member of Manly LSC and was inducted into the SLSA Hall of Fame.
On behalf of the Board of Surf Life Saving NSW, we congratulate Naomi Flood on a truly remarkable career in surf sport and thank her for the legacy and inspiration she leaves for aspiring surf athletes, in particular our young female lifesavers.
Tuesday 25 January 2022