William Ashley Kirby (born 12 September 1975) is an Australian swimmer who was competitive on an international level in the nineties and early 2000s. He specialized in freestyle and

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

and won a gold medal at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

in Sydney as part of the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay team. He was an

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

scholarship holder.AIS at the Olympics

Swimming career

Kirby made his debut at the 1993 Pan Pacific Championships before competing at the

1994 Commonwealth Games The 1994 Commonwealth Games ( French: ''XVéme Jeux du Commonwealth'') were held in Victoria, British Columbia, from 18 to 28 August 1994. Ten types of sports were featured at the Victoria Games: athletics, aquatics, badminton, boxing, cycling, ...

in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and the 1994 World Aquatics Championships in Rome as a butterfly swimmer. After missing selection for the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in Atlanta, due to

glandular fever In animals, a gland is a group of cells in an animal's body that synthesizes substances (such as hormones) for release into the bloodstream (endocrine gland) or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface (exocrine gland). Structure De ...

, he contemplated quitting the sport. Kirby found his way back into the national team at the 1997 FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden. Although he missed selection for the

1998 World Aquatics Championships The 8th FINA World Championships or the 1998 World Aquatics Championships were held from 8 to 17 January 1998 in Perth, Western Australia. The championships features competition in all five of FINA's disciplines: Swimming, Diving, Water Polo, S ...

in his home town, he bounced back to qualify for the

1998 Commonwealth Games The 1998 Commonwealth Games ''(Malay: Sukan Komanwel 1998)'', officially known as the XVI Commonwealth Games ''(Malay: Sukan Komanwel ke-16)'', was a multi-sport event held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This edition is marked by several unprecedent ...

in Kuala Lumpur, where he won a silver medal in the 200m butterfly. At the 1999 Pan Pacific Championships in Sydney, he was a member of the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay team (along with

Michael Klim Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

Ian Thorpe Ian James Thorpe, (born 13 October 1982) is an Australian retired swimmer who specialised in freestyle, but also competed in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian along wit ...

and

Grant Hackett Grant George Hackett OAM (born 9 May 1980) is an Australian swimmer, most famous for winning the men's 1500 metres freestyle race at both the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. This achievement has led him t ...

) that lowered the world record, at the time, to 7m 08.79s. Training at the

, he earned an Olympic berth the following year, anchoring the Australian 4 × 200 m relay team of Thorpe, Klim and

Todd Pearson Todd Robert Pearson (born 25 November 1977) is an Australian swimming champion, who was born in Geraldton, Western Australia. He started swimming on the advice of a doctor treating his asthma. Pearson was vice captain of Hale School in 1994 wh ...

to another world record of 7m 07.05s. Kirby's final international competition was at the

2001 World Aquatics Championships right The 2001 World Aquatics Championships or the 9th FINA World Swimming Championships were held in Fukuoka, Japan between 16 July and 29 July 2001. The opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the swimming and synchronised swimming events, ...

in Fukuoka, Japan, where along with Klim, Hackett and Thorpe, he lowered the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay world record to 7m 04.66s. That record held firm for nearly six years until United States relay team clocked in at 7m 03.24s at the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne. Kirby also collected a gold for swimming in the non-final heats of the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay and also swam in the finals of the 200m freestyle individual event. He retired after the championships to start a coaching career and business. He now teaches swimming at

Christ Church Grammar School , motto_translation = God is our leader, learning is our light , established = , founder = William Joseph McClemans , type = Independent single-sex early learning, primary, and secondary day and boarding school , gender = Boys , deno ...

, the school at which he was educated.

References

External links

ABC profile

Bill Kirby retires
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirby, Bill 1975 births Living people Australian male freestyle swimmers Swimmers from Perth, Western Australia Olympic swimmers for Australia Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics World record setters in swimming Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia People educated at Christ Church Grammar School Olympic gold medalists for Australia World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Australian Institute of Sport swimmers Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in swimming Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Swimmers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Australian male butterfly swimmers 20th-century Australian people 21st-century Australian people Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Sportsmen from Western Australia

Swimming career

See also

References

External links