Bill Kirby

Perth bred, William (Bill) Kirby is an Olympic and World swimming champion. He was part of the gold winning 4 x 200m freestyle team at Sydney with Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett and Michael Klim. Bill retired in 2002 as WA’s fastest ever 200m freestyler, 200m, 100m, 50m butterflyer and one of WA’s most prolific swimming icons. In 2004 he received an Order of Australia Medal.

Bill Kirby almost threw in the towel after missing out in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics Swimming Team by 0.3 of a second, due to Glandular Fever.

Vowing never to swim again, Bill completed a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Human Movement and Physiology in 1996. In the same year, Bill’s coach talked him back into swimming, and by 1997 he was winning international Gold, from there Bill never looked back, self confidence grew and success followed.

Bill has had a number of public speaking engagements. The range of topics include:

“Getting through the tough times”, speaking on perseverance, little goals, self talk, Social network/sports psychology/mentoring.

“Choosing success, becoming a professional”, speaking on goal setting, making decisions, sacrifice and selfishness.

“Sydney Olympics, the good days” with regards to the lead up, the Olympic Village, the Opening Ceremony, race day and the fun.