Австралиялық жүзуші Кирен Перкинс және оның жетістіктері

Australian swimmer

Kieren John Perkins, OAM (born 14 August 1973) is a former Australian 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 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.

Perkins married in 1997 and has three children, Harry, Georgia and Charlie, with ex wife Symantha. In June 2012, Perkins announced he and Symantha had separated. In October 2014, Perkins married Karen Davis in Positano, Italy.