Fairweather, who died in 2014, raced under her maiden name of Gallagher and left a remarkable legacy consisting of world championships and Commonwealth Games medals.

She was inducted into the International Triathlon Union's hall of fame alongside former Olympian and Triathlon Australia chief executive Miles Stewart.

The pair join fellow Australians Emma Carney, Greg Welch (2014), Michellie Jones, Emma Snowsill, Peter Robertson (2015), Loretta Harrop and Brad Bevan (2016) in the elite group.

Carney and Fairweather built up a strong rivalry in the sport and became two of the drawcard names in triathlons worldwide, entering the Australian triathlon hall of fame together in 2012.

"It's really quite sad. It's quite ironic that [Thursday] was R U OK? Day, and Jackie obviously struggled with a lot of depression," Carney said.

"She was a very strong person, kept it very hidden. It's just very sad that she's not here to accept the award I think, that was my first thought.

"But it's justification of her career that she's now in the highest hall of fame in triathlon that you can possible be in.

"She probably never knew it. She probably always was critical of herself and she probably always such a high achiever.

"To this day, she probably wouldn't believe the number of people that thought very highly of her. It's a good day and it's also a very sad day."

Fairweather burst onto the scene to win the elite Australian National Series in her first season in 1992, and became a world champion four years later.

Fairweather made history by becoming the first athlete to win both the triathlon and duathlon world championships in the same year in 1996.

She added another duathlon gold medal in 1999 to go with a swag of world championship silver medals before turning to marathons ahead of the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Fairweather proved near unstoppable on foot, claiming bronze in the 2002 Commonwealth Games marathon, before claiming gold in the Gold Coast marathon in 2005.