Matthew James Welsh (born 18 November 1976) is an Australian swimmer who is the former world champion in the backstroke and butterfly. He took two golds in 50-meter butterfly and 50-meter backstroke, during one hour, at the World Championships in Shanghai 2006. Welsh retired from professional swimming in March 2008 when he failed to secure a place in the team for the Beijing Olympics. Early years Welsh started swimming in his final years at Scotch College, Melbourne and moved into competitive swimming in 1995 after leaving school at the age of eighteen. He trained under coach Ian Pope at the Melbourne Vicentre Club. His first big break came in 1998 at the world swimming championships in Perth, Western Australia with a gold in the 4x100-metre medley relay. World and Olympic accomplishments At 31 and after 11 years on the Australian Swim Team, Welsh was unable to beat the younger generation at the trials and was not selected to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Swimming-history Welsh has won several world championship titles in both backstroke and butterfly. He first broke the Australian record in the 100-metre backstroke in 1998. He also won more Australian swimming titles than any swimmer in history, claiming his 50th win at the 2006 Australian titles in Brisbane in December 2006. Personal life Welsh married Lauren Newton, the daughter of Bert and Patti Newton, and sister of Matthew Newton, on 4 November 2006. They are parents to six children born between January 2008 and August 2020. Awards and honors Australian Sports Medal in 2000. Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2013 for services swimming and charity work. See also List of Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming (men) List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men) World record progression 50 metres backstroke World record progression 50 metres butterfly World record progression 200 metres backstroke References External links Elite Sports 1976 births Living people Australian male backstroke swimmers Australian male butterfly swimmers Swimmers from Melbourne Olympic swimmers of Australia Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Australia Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Swimmers at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 2006 Commonwealth Games World record setters in swimming People educated at Scotch College, Melbourne Olympic bronze medalists in swimming World Aquatics Championships medalists