Mark Kerry, Date of Birth, Place of Birth

    

Mark Kerry

Australian swimmer, Olympic gold medallist

Date of Birth: 04-Aug-1959

Place of Birth: Temora, New South Wales, Australia

Profession: entrepreneur, swimmer

Nationality: Australia

Zodiac Sign: Leo


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About 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.
  • 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 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 government of Australia 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.

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