Louise Wood Determination – Michael Klim

This portrait by Louise Wood of swimmer Michael Klim was a finalist in the Daily Telegraph Sporting Portrait Prize, held in conjunction with the Archibald Prize 2000.

Klim is one of the stars of Australian swimming and, at the time of the exhibition, was training hard for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He won a silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in the 4 × 100 metre relay. He recently became the first swimmer to go under 52 seconds in the 100 metre butterfly, breaking the world record.

Born in New Zealand in 1960, Wood is largely self-taught as an artist, although she has attended watercolour classes. She used to train as a swimmer, though not at Klim’s level. 'I can only do two strokes of butterfly. Klim can swim the 100 metre butterfly faster than I could run it.’