Kieren Perkins
Kieren Perkins was born in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia on August 14th, 1973 and is the Swimmer. At the age of 50, Kieren Perkins biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 50 years old, Kieren Perkins has this physical status:
Kieren John Perkins, OAM (born 14 August 1973) is an Australian former competitive swimmer, four-time Olympic champion, and former world record holder in three events.
He won two Olympic gold medals in 1992 and 1996 in the 1500-meter freestyle, as well as a silver medal in 2000.
Early life
Perkins was born in Brisbane, Queensland. He attended Indooroopilly State Primary School and graduated from Brisbane Boys' College in Toowong, a inner city suburb. He began swimming regularly at age eight as part of his recovery from a serious leg injury while running through a plate glass window. His potential became apparent at age 13, and with coach John Carew leading him, he earned his first medal at the Australian Championships in Melbourne in 1989.
Personal life
Harry, Georgia, and Charlie are Perkins' three children, along with ex-wife Symantha. Perkins and Symantha had separated in June 2012. Perkins married Karen Davis in Positano, Italy, in October 2014.
Early international career (1990–1992)
The 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand, Perkins' first major international meet was held. Perkins earned the silver medal in the 1500 meter freestyle, behind fellow Queenslander Glen Housman. Both Housman (14:55.25) and Perkins (14:58.08), the first time Perkins had scored a sub-five-minute 1500 meters, were discorded.
At the 1991 World Aquatics Championships in Perth, there was a lot of enthusiasm for Perkins, but he was defeated 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 under the previous world record.
At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, Perkins was the most popular for the men's 1500-meter freestyle. Perkins set a new world record of 5 seconds to 14:43.48, making him the fastest qualifier for the final. This was the first gold medal won by an Australian swimmer at these Games.
Perkins finished second in the 400 m final earlier in the meet. In a world record time, Russian Yevgeny Sadovyi of the Unified Team claimed the race in a world record time. Perkins also set a new world record by finishing 0.16 behind.
At the closing ceremony, Perkins was the Australian flag bearer.
Peak international career (1993–1996)
Perkins won four gold medals in the 200 m, 400 m, 1500 meters, and 4 x 200 meters freestyle relay at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a world record time.
Perkins participated in the 1994 World Aquatics Championships in Rome, two weeks after the Commonwealth Games. He received two gold medals in the 400 m and 1500 meters, the fastest in World Record time. His 400 m and 1500 m world records set in 1999 and 2001, respectively, were broken by fellow Australians Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett. From Swimming World magazine, his achievements in that year earned him the Male World Swimmer of the Year award. Later, he referred to the Olympic Pool in Rome as his favorite pool.
Perkins was out of form at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and long-time Australian rival Daniel Kowalski was regarded as the favourite. In fact, his form was so bad that he almost didn't make the Australian team. Perkins qualified for the 1500-meter freestyle final by a mere 0.24 seconds, the fastest of the top 8 qualifiers, and it was later revealed that he was sick and not swimming before the event. Perkins won the race for the first time after being the only swimmer to go under 15 minutes (14:56.40), but Kowalski was forced to fight all the way and left off Graeme Smith. Perkins became the third swimmer to win two gold medals in the event in a row. He was the first Australian since Dawn Fraser to win an individual Olympic championship successfully in Olympics held outside of Australia.
Post swimming career
He has occasionally worked in television since his departure. In 2009, he joined National Australia Bank. Perkins was part of the team that compiled an evaluation of the Australian swimming team at the 2012 Olympics. Perkins was appointed President of Swimming Australia in November 2020. He was a director of the Starlight Foundation.
Perkins was appointed the new CEO of the Australian Sports Commission on December 17th, 2021, and the Australian Institute of Sport.