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Swimming
Drugs In SwimmingDrugs In SwimmingHouse Of Aust.Swim. LinksAustralian Swimming LinksInvestigationSwimming InvestigationKieren PerkinsKieren PerkinsMicheal KilmMicheal KilmRebecca BrownBrown Quits Swimming|
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| Kieren Perkins |
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| The curious thing about someone like Kieren is that of the 10 Million humans who ever lived, he is the absolute best there ever was at one thing. From the start of life on earth no-one has swum as fast as this great Australian hero. Breaking world records with gargantuan effort, then setting out to break them again is what he does with his share time. Kieren Perkins is the greatest swimmer to date. He has broken 12 world records and is the first human in the history of sport to hold the Olympic, World, Commonwealth and Pan Pacific titles at the same time. He holds the records for all of these. He is the king of Australian sport in the '90s. Kieren Perkins has broken over 40 Australian records and is without doubt up their with the greatest Australian athletes of all time. Kieren's major achievements! *Young Australian of the Year 1992 * Los Angeles Amateur Athletic Foundation World Oceania Award 1992 * Order of Australia medal 1993 * Advance Australia award 1993 * Australian Sports and Tourism Ambassador of the Year 1993 * U.S Swimming World Male Swimmer of the Year 1994 * FINA Prize 1994 Kieren first came to notice at the Australian Championships of 1989. KP finished 2nd in the 1500, behind Glen Houseman (who broke the world record at that time) in 15:48 and made the team for the 1990 Commonwealth Games. Kieren swam his first big race in 1990 when he was only 16 at the Commonwealth Games. His coach predicted Kieren would swim under 15 minutes in the 1500m. Nobody would believe it, but Kieren swam a 14:58 to become only the 3rd person to break the 15 minute barrier. He was only beaten by the World Record holder Aussie Glen Houseman, and is still the youngest person to break 15 minutes. In the 1991 World Championships Kieren Perkins and the German Jorg Hoffman fought a fascinating dual at below world record pace. They were stroke for stroke the entire time but the more experienced Hoffman out turned Perkins and won by a few hundredths of a second in 14:50.38. It was a new world record. Kieren went 14:50.58 which was also way under the world record. Kieren tried to congratulate him but Jorg gave him the finger and sneered"I am World champion!" But in 1997 Jorg Hoffman admitted he had been under the effects of steroids, and so if it wasn't for that Kieren would have won the title and record. Kieren put it behind him and at the 1991 Pan Pacs he broke the 800m freestyle world record, literally stopping in the middle of the 1500 to check it was his. After a bit he kept on swimming and still won the race! Kieren broke a few more world records and then in April 1992 it was the Olympic Trials, where he broke the 400 and 1500m freestyle world records. At the Olympics Kieren was understandably nervous and in the 400 (his first ever Olympic final) he swam too cautiously so unfortunately Russian Evgeny Sadovyi beat him by 4 hundredths of a second. But in the 1500m Kieren never looked back. It was predicted this would be the big showdown between Perkins and Hoffman. But really it was just a display of Perkins'superiority. He led the whole way and Hoffman finished 18 seconds behind. The crowd went crazy as Kieren zoomed to world record victory in 14:43.48. In 1993 Kieren broke the short course world records for the 800m and 1500m. He was an extremely vital part of the winning Sydney 2000 Olympic bid. In 1994 at the Commonwealth Games he won the 200, 400, 1500 and 4x200 relay. Every race he entered he not only won, but won it in a new world or games record. In the 1500m he broke not only the 1500m world record ( 14:41.66) but the 800m in the same swim!(7:46.00) Kieren's coach actually hadn't wanted Kieren to break 2 world records in the one swim, he'd just wanted him to break the 800m and then slow down. But Kieren was feeling too good for that! His coach thinks that if Kieren had waited till the World Championships, he would have gone into the 14:30's. Just 2 weeks later Kieren went to the world championships, and despite being sick, won the 400m in world record time (3:43.80)treating it like a sprint event. Fellow Australian swimmer Daniel Kowalski looked up at Kieren way ahead and feared he was swimming badly, till he looked back and saw the other swimmers were all in a line with him. Even Kieren was impressed. " I was in awe of myself!" he gasped. Kieren battled high temperatures and nausea, but still managed to win the 1500m in 14:50, which is faster than anyone else has ever gone. Kieren also won at the 1995 Pan Pacs. At the 1996 Olympic Trials, Kieren was sick. He had viruses, iron imbalances, you name it, he had it. He was so sick he swam horrific swims. He finished 3rd in the 400m(where he held the world record) and so didn't make the team. He managed to finish 2nd in the 1500m and made the team, and the whole of Australia breathed a sigh of relief. For 2 weeks after the trials Kieren was so lethargic he could not train. A few months later when he went to the Olympics nobody thought Kieren could possibly win. (Except me, that is.) All the media had totally written him off, predicting Daniel Kowalski was going to win. When the swimming team took off for Atlanta the media were busy with the 'gold medal chances'and Kieren snuck onto the plane unnoticed. They didn't even consider him a medal chance. He tried to make them think otherwise and it was beginning to work- until it was time for his heat. For some reason Kieren couldn't breathe, got pains down his side, and couldn't make his turns properly. He swam a 15:21(40sec. outside his best time) and qualified in last spot. If he'd been two hundreths of a second slower he wouldn't have made the final. KIEREN SINKS was the front page story of Australian newspapers the day of his final. A comeback of this magnitude was deemed impossible. Everybody thought he was dead and gone. Nobody could get up from here! But the next day Kieren showed them all. He just swam so fast the others broke behind him. He swam a 14:56 from lane 8 to win the gold by 15 metres. While in 2nd place Daniel Kowalski (Australia) swam 15:03 who no-one could care about because KP had swum the race of his life as a true Champion. "That has got to be the hardest thing I have ever done in my life" said Kieren. "..But I just had to do it. I don't think it would have mattered if one of my arms fell off, I just had to get after it". Teammate and training partner Hayley Lewis (herself a World Champion and Olympic medallist) cried and said " He's just such a great champion. Everyone in Australia should get up in the morning and kiss the ground he walks on. He is the greatest swimmer in history and the greatest person as well. Australia is very lucky to have him." Kieren has his eyes firmly fixed on the Sydney 2000 Olympics. He wants to be the first male in history to win 3 consecutive Olympic titles for the same event. G O O D L U C K K P |
 skudar@hotmail.com |
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