Mark Kerry is a swimmer who has competed for Australia. He competed at the 1976, 1980, and 1984 Summer Olympic Games.
At his first Olympics in 1976, Kerry enjoyed an early success in the backstroke double (100 and 200), where he placed seventh in the 100 and sixth in the 200, more than two seconds behind the John Naber. Kerry also posted a 57.94 split on the backstroke leg to trail the top three teams in the 4x100 metres medley relay but his Australian teammates could not contend with the leaders on the succeeding legs, slipping off the podium to sixth by more than four seconds.
Four years later in Moscow, Kerry returned to his second Olympics as one of the medal favorites for the backstroke double. With the Americans and many other western swimmers absent, Australian officials were confident that Kerry, Mark Tonelli, and Glenn Patching would all reach the final and produce more medals but none of them prevailed on the sprint backstroke. Kerry dropped to third in his semifinal heat with the ninth-fastest time, missing the final by the closest margin. He rebounded from a semifinal exit in the 100 to earn a bronze behind the Hungarian duo of Sándor Wladár and Zoltán Verrasztó in the 200. The 4x100 metres medley relay became the most critical point of Kerry's Olympic career. There, he posted a backstroke split in 57.89, almost a tenth of a second faster than his effort on the individual side, to put the Australians on the fourth spot at the end of the leg. He passed his next relay duties to Peter Evans, who recorded the fastest breaststroke split of the field to move the Australians marginally behind Soviet Union. He witnessed Tonelli launch a late surge on the butterfly leg with an uneven arm technique before Neil Brooks produced a timely dive and surfaced almost even with his Soviet counterpart Sergei Kopliakov. When Brooks sprinted away with 25 metres left to overcome the Soviets, the Australian team of Kerry, Evans, and Tonelli, dubbed as the Quietly Confident Quartet, sealed their historic first gold medal in 3:45.70.
After the Games, Kerry took a break from competitive swimming until he returned three years later to prepare for Los Angeles 1984. Kerry's program was shortened at his third Olympics, focusing only on the 100 metres backstroke and 4x100 metres medley relay. He improved his lifetime best of 57.15 to enter the final as the third-fastest swimmer, but he struggled to reach his peak from a field of fledgling backstrokers, ending the race in fifth. In the 4x100 metres medley relay, Kerry swam through the backstroke leg with the third-fastest split (57.12) of the field, almost two seconds slower than the winner Richard Carey and Mike West but 0.04 quicker than the rest. The American hosts reclaimed the gold from the 1980 boycott with a new world record, while Kerry and his teammates Evans, Glenn Buchanan, and Mark Stockwell finished third behind the Canadians by the closest margins.
Olympic Results[]
| Year | Event | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Men's 200m backstroke | 16th |
| Men's 100m backstroke | 7th | |
| Men's 200m backstroke | 5th | |
| Men's 4x100m medley relay | 6th | |
| 1980 | Men's 100m backstroke | 9th |
| Men's 200m backstroke | 
| |
| Men's 4x200m freestyle relay | 7th | |
| Men's 4x100m medley relay | 
| |
| 1984 | Men's 100m backstroke | 5th |
| Men's 4x100m medley relay |
|
1976[]
| Discipline | Round | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 200 metres freestyle | Heats | 1:54.86 |
| Final | Did not advance | |
| 100 metres backstroke | Heats | 57.99 |
| Semifinal | 58.04 | |
| Final | 57.94 | |
| 200 metres backstroke | Heats | 2:03.54 |
| Final | 2:04.07 | |
| 4x100 metres medley relay | Heats | 3:53.98 (58.20 split) |
| Final | 3:51.54 (57.94 split) |
1980[]
| Discipline | Round | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 100 metres backstroke | Heats | 58.08 |
| Semifinal | 58.07 | |
| Final | Did not advance | |
| 200 metres backstroke | Heats | 2:03.60 |
| Final | 2:03.14 | |
| 4x100 metres medley relay | Heats | 3:48.94 (Reserve) |
| Final | 3:45.70 (57.89 split) |
1984[]
| Discipline | Round | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 metres backstroke | Heats | 57.15 | |
| A Final | 57.18 | ||
| 4x100 metres medley relay | Heats | 3:43.93 (57.41 split) |
|
| Final | 3:43.25 (57.12 split) |
AR |