Kieren John Perkins (born 14 August 1973) is an Australian former freestyle swimmer. He specialised in the 1500-metre freestyle and won successive Olympic gold medals in this event in the 1990s. He won his first at the 1992 Olympics which he won in world record time and then at the 1996 Olympics when he defended his title. In total he won four Olympic medals.
Perkins was born in Brisbane, Queensland. He attended Indooroopilly State Primary School and graduated from Brisbane Boys' College in the inner city suburb of Toowong.
He began swimming regularly at age eight as part of his rehabilitation from a serious leg injury incurred after running through a plate glass window.
At age 13 his potential became obvious, and with coach John Carew guiding him he won his first medal at the Australian Championships in Melbourne in 1989.
Early international career (1990–1992)
Perkins's first major international meet was the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand.
Perkins won the silver medal in the 1500-metre freestyle behind fellow Queenslander Glen Housman. Both Housman (14:55.25) and Perkins (14:58.08) broke 15 minutes which was the first time Perkins had recorded a sub-fifteen-minute 1500 metres.
There was much expectation around Perkins at the 1991 World Aquatics Championships in Perth in the 1500 m freestyle, but he was beaten in the final by just 0.22 seconds by German Jörg Hoffmann who set a new world-record time. Perkins swam 14:50.58, which was also far under the previous world record.
Perkins was favourite for the men's 1500-metre freestyle at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. The fastest qualifier for the final, Perkins broke his own world record by 5 seconds to 14:43.48. This was the only gold medal won by an Australian swimmer at these Games.
Earlier in the meet, Perkins finished second in the 400 m final. Russian Yevgeny Sadovyi representing the Unified Team won the race in a world record time. Perkins also broke the world record as he finished 0.16 behind.
Perkins was the Australian flag bearer at the closing ceremony.
Peak international career (1993–1996)
At the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, Perkins won four gold medals in the 200 m, 400 m, 1500 m and 4 x 200 m freestyle relay all in world record time.
Two weeks after the Commonwealth Games, Perkins competed in the 1994 World Aquatics Championships in Rome. He won two gold medals in the 400 m and 1500 m, the 400 m in World Record time. His 400 m and 1500 m world records made that year stood until 1999 and 2001 respectively, broken by fellow Australians Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett. His performances in that year earned him the Male World Swimmer of the Year award from Swimming World magazine.
He later described the Olympic Pool in Rome as his favourite pool.
At the time of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Perkins was out of form and long-time Australian rival Daniel Kowalski was regarded as the favourite. In fact his form was so poor that he almost failed to make the Australian team. Perkins qualified for the 1500-metre freestyle final by a mere 0.24 seconds to be the slowest of the top 8 qualifiers, and it was later revealed that before the race he felt unwell and considered not swimming. From lane eight, Perkins dominated the race being the only swimmer to go under 15 minutes (14:56.40), again relegating Kowalski, who had to fight all the way and just held off Graeme Smith. Perkins became just the third swimmer to win consecutive gold medals in this event. He became the only Australian since Dawn Fraser to defend an individual Olympic championship successfully in Olympics held outside Australia.
Era of Dominance Over (1998–2000)
Perkins carried the flag at the opening ceremony for the 1998 Commonwealth Games held in Kuala Lumpur. In the 1500 m freestyle, he won bronze behind 18 year old heir apparent Grant Hackett and Ryk Neethling.