197 – Atlanta Olympic swim 1996 – Kieren Perkins Anecdotally Speaking

Australian champion swimmer Kieren Perkins barely qualified for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and only just made the final for the 1500 metre event

Shawn and Mark discuss how extraordinary ‘turn-arounds’, under promising and over delivering, and reduced expectations of self can sometimes lead to world class moments



Welcome back to a new Anecdotally Speaking episode.

For your story bank

Tags: Kieren Perkins, adversity, turn-around, inspirational, under promise, over deliver

This story starts at 01:03



Kieren Perkins 1996 – Superfish

Prep for Atlanta Olympics

Daniel Kowalski ‘up and comer’ tipped for gold

K’s form slumped personal and health problems. Past his prime, self-talk was pretty ‘has been’

400 (world record holder)/800 metres didn’t qualify > only for 1500 m

Scrapes heats into the 1500 m final

Lane 8 – “same water as everyone else, give it a crack..”

Increased his lead with every lap throughout race

Led the whole race and won by 7 seconds and 20 metres

ahead of second placegetter

Things don’t always turn out the way you planned

Adversity (and taking the pressure off) can inspire amazing performance