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Kieren Perkins Announces Retirement

Nov 16, 2000  - Paul Quinlan

BRISBANE - The King of men's distance swimming, Australian Kieren Perkins, flanked by his one and only long time coach John Carew announced his retirement from competitive swimming in Brisbane yesterday.

Perkins whose international career spans a decade, reached the heights of Olympic and World Championship gold, setting not just new world records on the way, but new standards for others to chase.

He made his breakthough onto the international scene when he won the 1500m silver medal at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand. Four years later in Victoria, Canada he pulled off an incredible feat, setting the 800m world record on his way to breaking the 1500m world record and picking up the gold medal.

Perkins won the gold in the men's 1500m at both the Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996 Olympics and won the silver at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

He retires holding the world records in 800m and 1500m freestyle LC as well as the 800m SC. Only his 400m LC world record has been bettered, and that took the amazing Ian Thorpe to set a new standard.