Mark Kerry

Mark Anthony Kerry (born 4 August 1959) is an Australian former backstroke and freestyle swimmer of the 1970s and 1980s, who won three Olympic medals, including a gold in the 4 × 100 m medley relay at the 1980 Summer Olympics as the backstroker for the Quietly Confident Quartet.

During his career, he won twelve Australian Championships.

Initially trained by his mother, Kerry enjoyed success in swimming and surf lifesaving as a teenager.

His swimming career progressed to senior Australian standards after he switched to the tutelage of John Rigby and moved to Queensland.

In the pool, Kerry had his first competitive race at the age of 12 in 1971.

At the time, Brad Cooper—who went on to win the 400 m freestyle at the 1972 Summer Olympics—was living in Wollongong and he and Kerry trained together on a regular basis.

In 1974, Kerry won the Cadet Malibu event in the Australian Championships, and in 1975 he came second in the surf race at the Australian Open Surfing Championships.

In 1974, Kerry competed in the Australian Age Championships in freestyle, before moving north to train with John Rigby in Brisbane, Queensland in the following year.

At the time of his move, Kerry was ranked around 200th in the world in backstroke.

Kerry had improved to such an extent that by November 1975, his times in the 200 m backstroke had dropped from around 2 m 10 s to around 2 m 3.0 s, ranking him third in the world.

As a result of his strong performances in the pool, Kerry retired from surf racing.

He made his debut at the 1976 Australian Championships and promptly won the 200 m freestyle and backstroke events to win selection for the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal at the age of 16.

At the Olympics, Kerry reached the final in two events, coming seventh and fifth in the 100 m and 200 m backstroke respectively.

Kerry was disappointed with his performances, but they attracted the attention of American coach Doc Counsilman, who invited Kerry to swim under him at the Indiana University.

Kerry made his debut at the 1976 Australian Championships, winning the 200 m freestyle and backstroke events in 1 m 54.33 s and 2 m 3.58 s respectively, as well as the 4 × 200 m freestyle and the 4 × 100 m medley relays for New South Wales, leading off both relays.

Aged 16, Kerry won selection for the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal in the 100 m and 200 m backstroke, the 200 m freestyle, the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay and the 4 × 100 m medley relay.

Kerry was second in his heat of the 200 m freestyle heat in a time of 1 m 54.86 s, but was four seconds off the pace and did not qualify for the final.

Kerry set Australian records while in the United States, but his international career hit trouble when he was expelled from the 1978 Commonwealth Games team for breaking a curfew.

Kerry returned to Australia in 1980 for the national championships and gained selection for the Moscow Olympics by winning the backstroke double.

Kerry declined financial inducements and resisted political pressure from the Australian Government to boycott the Olympics in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

He went on to win bronze in the 200 m backstroke after missing the final in the 100 m. The peak of his career came in the 4 × 100 m medley relay, where he led off the winning team.

The race remains the only time the United States did not win the event at the Olympics.

After the games, Kerry took an extended break from the sport, before returning for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

He claimed a bronze in the medley relay and came fifth in the 100 m backstroke.

He then retired and took up a television and modelling career in the United States.

After returning to Australia, he ran and owned Dunhill Management, one of the largest recruiting firms in the nation, with his brother.

In 2001, the Kerry brothers sold Dunhill for A$22.7 million, with up to A$13.8 million in additional payments depending on the success of the company.

They later founded a new recruitment firm, K2.

Born in Temora, New South Wales, near the regional centre of Wagga Wagga, Kerry was one of two sons born to a car salesman.

Kerry's mother was a swimming teacher who ran her own aquatic school.

Kerry was taught to swim by his mother, whom he regarded as a perfectionist who emphasised technique and turned him to backstroke.

Kerry grew up participating in a wide range of sports, representing Wollongong High School in tennis, athletics and swimming.

He also competed four times in the state cross-country championships.

Once his family had moved to the seaside city of Wollongong, Kerry developed a love of the surf.

He found the ocean water much more exciting due to its unpredictability.

Kerry steadily rose through the surf lifesaving ranks, competing at the state and national championships.

His time was 2.08 s behind the slowest qualifier, placing him 16th.

Kerry did not get to swim in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay.

The fastest Australian in the corresponding individual event, he was rested in the qualifying round; Australia came third in their heat and ninth overall to miss the final by 1.88 s after Peter Dawson swam his split in a time four seconds slower than Kerry's effort in the individual event.

Had Kerry repeated his individual time in the relay in place of Dawson, Australia would have qualified fifth.