Career
Paton qualified for the women"s 800-metre freestyle at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, by clearing a FINA A-standard entry time of 8:34.70 from the Olympic trials in Sydney. She challenged seven other swimmers on the second heat, including former bronze medalist Jana Henke of Germany and top medal favorite Diana Munz of the United States. Paton cruised to fourth place by five seconds behind Munz in 8:35.81, but missed the final by more than a second, as she placed ninth overall in the preliminaries.
Shortly after the Olympics, Paton finished fourth behind her teammate Melissa Gorman, but dipped under 8:30 barrier in the same distance at the FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana, with a time of 8:25.38.
Paton"s effort and triumph from the trials moved her up to third in the world rankings for the said distance. At the FINA World Championships in Montreal, Canada, Paton missed the final with a tenth-place finish in the 1500-metre freestyle, outside her entry time of 16:37.18.
In 2006, Paton moved to England to train and take up an academic scholarship with a degree in sports performance at the University of Bath.