Education
She completed her secondary school studies at Kenmore State High School in Brisbane, Queensland.
She completed her secondary school studies at Kenmore State High School in Brisbane, Queensland.
Her family moved from Malawi to Australia in 2001 and it was shortly after this that Campbell took up competitive swimming. She followed this up in 2008 with a victory in the 50-metre freestyle at the Japan Open, beating compatriot Libby Trickett and setting new Australian and Commonwealth records with her time of 24.48 seconds. She is coached by Simon Cusack at the Commercial Swimming Club.
Cate is the eldest of five siblings.
Her sister Bronte is also a swimmer and the pair competed in the same event at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Campbell was the fastest qualifier into the 50-metre freestyle semi-finals, after recording a time of 24.20 seconds.
This placed her in Lane 4 in the semi-finals against the world record holder Libby Trickett. In semi-final 2, Campbell placed second in a time of 24.42 seconds, placing her in Lane 5 for the final.
In the final, she placed 3rd in a time of 24.17.
Despite doing a time trial of 53.40 seconds, with her 100-metre performance of 56.39 from 5 months earlier in March and having hip problems, she was scratched from the women"s 4×100-metre freestyle. However she still earned the right to swim the 50-metre freestyle from her runner-up swim at the world championships trials. In Rome she finished with a bronze, beating compatriot Libby Trickett and ending just 0.02 of a second off the Commonwealth Record.
She did not represent Australia in as she had an injury.
In 2007, she went to the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney and won two gold medals in the 50-metre individual freestyle and 4×100-metre freestyle relay. Campbell was a member of the Australian team that won the gold medal in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. At the Australian Swimming Championships she won gold in the both the 50- and 100-metre freestyle events, qualifying for the World Aquatics Championships. At the World Championships, she teamed up with her sister Bronte, Emma McKeon and Alicia Coutts in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay where they won the silver medal, finishing 0.12 of a second behind the American team On the sixth day of competition, Campbell won the 100-metre freestyle world title with a time of 52.34 seconds. Campbell finished ahead of Sarah Sjöström of Sweden and defending Olympic champion, Ranomi Kromowidjojo.
