Bill Mahony began swimming at the age of five and made his debut for the Canadian national team at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, where he took bronze in the 220 yard breaststroke. His next stop was the 1967 Pan American Games, where he captured silver in the 4x100 metre medley relay (alongside Sandy Gilchrist, Ron Jacks, and Jim Shaw) and was edged out of a medal in the 200 metre breaststroke by American Ken Merten. He was then selected to represent Canada at the 1968 Summer Olympics, where he placed seventh in the 4x100 m medley relay (with Shaw, Gilchrist, and Toomas Arusoo) and was eliminated in the opening round and semifinals of the 200 and 100 metre breaststroke events respectively.
Mahony’s most successful major tournament was the 1970 Commonwealth Games, where he won gold medals in the 100 and 200 m breaststroke events, as well as the 4x100 m medley relay (alongside Bob Kasting, Bill Kennedy, and Byron MacDonald). After winning another silver medal in the 4x100 m medley relay at the 1971 Pan American Games (with Kennedy, MacDonald, and Timothy Bach), he attended the 1972 Summer Olympics, where he earned bronze in the same event (alongside Kasting, Kennedy, Erik Fish, and Bruce Robertson) and was again eliminated in the opening round and semifinals of the 200 and 100 metre breaststroke events respectively. His final major international tournament was the 1974 Commonwealth Games, where he finished his career with gold in the 4x100 m medley relay (with Kasting, Kennedy, and MacDonald). A graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of British Columbia, he established six national records in the 100 and 200 m breaststroke over his career, later took up coaching, and was inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.
Canada