Distance great Perkins appointed head of Swimming Australia

Last updated Nov 7, 2020

FILE - In this July 26, 1996, file photo Kieren Perkins of Australia competes in the men's 1500 meter freestyle final at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, U.S.A. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Perkins is taking his experience gained in the pool to the board room: He's been named president of Swimming Australia, on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020. (AP Photo/David Longstreath, File)

Former great Kieren Perkins was appointed head of Swimming Australia Saturday, charged with building momentum into next year’s delayed Tokyo Olympics.

One of Australia’s greatest distance swimmers, he won 1500m gold at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics while breaking numerous world records during a long career.

Perkins retired in 2000 having amassed 23 medals at international competitions, earning the distinction of being the first person to hold Olympic, world, Commonwealth and Pan Pacific titles simultaneously.

“I have a strong desire to maintain swimming’s position as Australia’s most successful Olympic sport and with only a year out from Tokyo it’s important to keep a level of stability and focus,” he said.

“We need to keep building momentum and heading into an Olympic year there is no better opportunity to bring the sport and the country together and inspire future generations.”

Swimming is Australia’s most prolific Olympic sport, and they have a storied rivalry with the United States in the pool.

But after a record haul of 20 swimming medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the team managed only 10 in Rio four years ago.

Perkins takes over from outgoing president John Bertrand a day after it emerged that Australia’s swimmers could be stripped of their 4x100m medley relay bronze medals from the London 2012 Olympics.

It follows breaststroker Brenton Rickard failing a re-test of his eight-year-old doping samples, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Rickard, 37, described the positive test for a small amount of furosemide, a masking agent, as his “worst nightmare” in an email to his former team-mates published by the newspaper Friday evening.

If confirmed, the entire Australian relay team — Rickard, James Magnussen, Christian Sprenger, Hayden Stoeckel, Matt Targett and Tommaso D’Orsogna –- would lose their medals.

The report comes after Australia’s Shayna Jack tested positive for a proscribed muscle-building drug in the run-up to the 2019 world championships, and was later banned by the Australian anti-doping authority.

France 24