Kevin Berry

Discovered as a talented butterfly swimmer early on, Kevin Berry débuted at the Olympics when he was only 15. He made the final of the 200 m butterfly and swam in the heats of 4 x 100 m medley relay, in which Australia earned a silver medal. Berry first bettered the world record in this distance two years later, one of 12 set during his career (including Imperial distances). At the 1962 Commonwealth Games, Berry earned three golds, winning both individual butterfly events and the medley relay. At the 1964 Olympics, he overwhelmingly won the 200 m butterfly gold, lowering his own world record to 2:06.6. He also won a bronze with the Australian relay squad. A six-time Australian champion, Berry lost his form after the Tokyo Games, and became a sports journalist. Starting out as a photographer, he eventually became head of sports at Australian channel ABC. A noted Olympic historian, he was an early member of the International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH) and published “2000 Things You Didn’t Know About The Olympic Games”.