Mark's Story
Ipswich-born Mark Tonelli began swimming to help manage childhood asthma and quickly developed into one of Australia’s most versatile swimmers. He made his international debut at 16 and won 100m backstroke gold at the 1974 Commonwealth Games before taking 200m backstroke silver at the 1975 World Championships.
Tonelli made his Olympic debut aged 19 at Montreal 1976, finishing fourth in the 200m backstroke and eighth over 100m. Four years later, he helped lead the athletes’ campaign for Australia to compete at the Moscow Games despite political pressure to withdraw.
In Moscow, Tonelli contested freestyle and backstroke events but achieved his greatest success swimming the butterfly leg of the 4x100m medley relay. Producing a personal best more than two seconds faster than his previous mark, he combined with Mark Kerry, Peter Evans and Neil Brooks to win Olympic gold.
