She also set two world records in her career, and was the first Australian woman to win individual Olympic medals in two distinct specialised strokes.

Ford, the second of four children grew up in the seaside Sydney suburb of Sans Souci, familiar with water, as her father Ian, a dentist, had narrowly missed Olympic selection as a yachtsman.

She proceeded to compete at the Australian Championships, where she won the 200-metre butterfly, despite standing only 140 centimetres, setting another national and Commonwealth record in the process.

After a seven-week national training camp, she competed in her first Olympic race in the 200-metre freestyle, where her competition included the eventual champion, Kornelia Ender of East Germany.

Under public pressure from the Government of Australia, particularly Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, who as the patron of the Australian Olympic Committee to boycott the Games in protest of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.

In the final the East Germans turned the tables, with Geissler and Sybille Schonrock leading Ford home into the bronze medal position.