Kevin John Berry
OAM (10 April 1945 – 7 December 2006) was an Australian
butterfly
Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...
swimmer of the 1960s who won the gold medal in the 200-metre butterfly at the
1964 Summer Olympics
The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...
in Tokyo. He set twelve world records in his career.
After his retirement from swimming, he became the pictorial editor of ''
The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...
'' and later the head of
ABC Sport
ABC Sport is the name given to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's sport programming broadcasts on ABC Television and ABC Radio. From November 2020 the brand includes the former ABC Radio Grandstand.
Since 2021, ABC Sport is a sectio ...
.
Early life and education
Berry, the second of seven children, was born in
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
and grew up in the western suburb of
Marrickville, in a family with no prior sporting background. His father Frederick had arrived in Australia in the 1920s and had worked as a bar manager to support the family. He was taught to swim by his elder sister Colleen along with his younger siblings at
Botany Bay
Botany Bay (Dharawal language, Dharawal: ''Kamay'') is an open oceanic embayment, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point a ...
. His younger brother Paul was a promising youth swimmer who defeated dual Olympic gold medallist
Michael Wenden
Michael Vincent Wenden, (born 17 November 1949) is a champion swimmer who represented Australia in the 1968 Summer Olympics and 1972 Summer Olympics. In 1968 he won four medals: gold in both the 100- and 200-metre freestyle (setting world reco ...
, and later became a professional
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
footballer. Berry was educated at
De La Salle College, and represented the school in
athletics
Athletics may refer to:
Sports
* Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking
** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport
* Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...
and rugby league, with moderate success.
Career
Berry joined the Pyrmont Club, which trained at Victoria Park Swimming Pool, under
Eric Hayes, and swam from 1956 until 1958 as a freestyler, with reasonable age group success. In 1958 he won a butterfly race, and despite winning more races, Hayes did not think that he was suited to butterfly. Berry switched coaches to
Don Talbot
Donald Malcolm Talbot (23 August 19333 November 2020) was an Australian Olympic swimming coach and sport administrator.
He coached national teams for Canada, the United States and Australia.
Early life
Talbot was born on 23 August 1933 as t ...
, training at Bankstown, New South Wales by the end of the year.
In 1959 at the under-14 New South Wales Championships, Berry came first, second and third in the
breaststroke
Breaststroke is a human swimming, swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and ...
,
backstroke
Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four Swimming (sport), swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disa ...
and butterfly respectively. Talbot encouraged him, predicting that he would do well the following year. Berry's parents were surprised when Talbot told them at the end of the year that Berry had a chance of making the
1960 Summer Olympics
The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...
team for Rome, even though he had never entered an Australian Championship before. At the end of the year, he came second to
Neville Hayes, a fellow Talbot swimmer, defeating
Harry Turner, who had been expected to be Australia's second butterflier at the Olympics.
At the New South Wales championships in January 1960 he came second to Hayes in both the 110-yard and 220-yard butterfly, and repeated this at the Australian Championships, earning himself Olympic selection at the age of 14. He was sent on a training camp with the Australian team to Townsville, Queensland to prepare for the Olympics. Arriving in Rome, Berry swam in the heats of the 4×100-metre medley relay, before being replaced by Hayes in the final, who combined with
David Theile,
Terry Gathercole
Terrence Stephen Gathercole (25 November 1935 – 30 May 2001), was an Australian breaststroke swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won a silver medal in the 4x100-metre medley relay at the 1960 Summer Olympics. He later became a swimming co ...
and
Geoff Shipton to claim silver behind the United States. Under the rules of the era, heat swimmers were not entitled to medals. In the 200-metre butterfly, Berry qualified fifth fastest, but came home in sixth in the final, six seconds behind the American winner
Mike Troy. Hayes finished second. Troy, who was impressed by Berry, sent him an autographed postcard, implying that he could be the next Olympic champion.
In 1961 Hayes again won the State and National titles, relegating Berry to second. Berry also finished his high schooling that year, and had a disrupted preparation for an international meet at the end of the year against a Japanese team and the
1962 Commonwealth Games the following year. In the four bilateral meets at Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart, Berry managed to beat Hayes in the last race, making a psychological breakthrough. At the following New South Wales Championships, he broke both the 220-yard and 110-yard butterfly world records, breaking Hayes' dominance. He again lowered the 220-yard record at the Australian Championships in qualifying for the Commonwealth Games. At the Games in Perth, he set Commonwealth records in both events to record his first international victories, and then combined with
Julian Carroll,
Ian O'Brien
Ian Lovett O'Brien (born 3 March 1947) is an Australian breaststroke swimmer of the 1960s who won the Swimming at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre breaststroke, 200 metre breaststroke at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in wo ...
and
David Dickson to add a third gold in the 4x110-yard medley relay.
In 1963 Berry successfully defended both of his butterfly titles, and then made a European tour with the Australian team, and then passed the entry examinations to
Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...
, and moved to the United States on a swimming scholarship under
Doc Counsilman. He was defeated in the US Championships that year by
Carl Robie, who later captured his world records. Berry trained among high calibre swimmers at Indiana, as his teammates included
Tom Stock,
Chet Jastremski
Chester Andrew Jastremski (January 12, 1941 – May 3, 2014) was an American competition swimmer, Olympic medalist and world record-holder.
Jastremski attended Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, where he swam for Doc Counsilman's I ...
and
Ted Stickles, holders of every backstroke, breaststroke and
medley
Medley or Medleys may refer to:
Sports
*Medley swimming, races requiring multiple swimming styles
* Medley relay races at track meets
Music
*Medley (music), multiple pieces strung together
People
*Medley (surname), list of people with this nam ...
world record respectively.
In 1964 Berry returned to Australia to qualify for the
1964 Summer Olympics
The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...
in Tokyo, Japan, breaking world records in both the 100-metre and 200-metre butterfly. Due to financial difficulties, he took a job as a petrol station attendant, and washing dishes for a steakhouse. In one case, the Australian team were hosted for a reception at the steakhouse meaning that he had to prepare and clean up despite being one of the guests. Berry attended a training camp in Ayr, Queensland under Talbot, who was the national head coach. During the week before the 200-metre event in Tokyo, Berry, the favourite for the gold medal, swam an extremely slow time trial during practice, in the view of opposition swimmers, leaving doubts in Talbot's mind. Robie broke the Olympic record in both the heat and semi-final. In the final, Berry was one of only two swimmers to have had previous Olympic experience and decided to deliberately false start to unsettle his opponents. He then set a time of 2:06.6, 0.3 of a second faster than his previous world record to claim gold. He later combined with Dickson, O'Brien and
Peter Reynolds to claim bronze in the 4×100-metre medley relay.
Berry returned to the United States, but was unable to match his previous form, and exchanged regular wins and defeats with Robie, who swam for the
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
. He was selected for the
1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica, but withdrew after his father's death and returned to Australia. He retired the following year and married, but continued his university education, initially studying business, but later switching to radio and television, and then photography. He worked as a photographer for two years in the United States before switching to ''
The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...
'' in Australia, where he later became the Pictorial Editor. He served as the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting
* Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
head of sport from 1985 until 1987, before starting his own private sports business. He was inducted into the
International Swimming Hall of Fame
The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the stu ...
as an "Honor Swimmer" in 1980.
See also
*
List of members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame
The International Swimming Hall of Fame is a history museum and hall of fame, serving as the central point for the study of the history of swimming in the United States and around the world.
List of the members of the International Swimming Hall ...
*
List of Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming (men)
*
List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men)
This is the complete list of men's Olympic medalists in swimming.
Men's events
50 metre freestyle
100 metre freestyle
200 metre freestyle
400 metre freestyle
800 metre freestyle
1500 metre freestyle
100 metre backstroke
200 m ...
*
World record progression 200 metres butterfly
This is a history of the progression of the World Record for the Swimming (sport), Swimming event: the 200 Butterfly (swimming), Butterfly. It is a listing of the fastest-time-ever swum in the event, in both long course (50m) and Short course (s ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
Obituary*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, Kevin
1945 births
2006 deaths
Olympic swimmers for Australia
Australian male butterfly swimmers
Swimmers at the 1960 Summer Olympics
Swimmers at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia
Swimmers from Sydney
World record setters in swimming
Deaths from brain cancer in Australia
Olympic bronze medalists in swimming
Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists for Australia
Olympic bronze medalists for Australia
Olympic gold medalists in swimming
Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia
Commonwealth Games gold medallists in swimming
Swimmers at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
The Sydney Morning Herald people
Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees
Medallists at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
Sportsmen from New South Wales
20th-century Australian sportsmen