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1980 Moscow | 4x100 m medley relay |
Mark Tonelli (born April 13 1957 in Ipswich, Queensland) was an Australian backstroke and freestyle swimmer of the 1970s and 1980s, who won a gold in the 4x100 m medley relay at the 1980 Moscow Olympics as a makeshift butterfly swimmer. This occurred after recovering from a previous expulsion from the Australian team for disciplinary problems. Throughout his career he won 11 individual Australian Championships in all three strokes.
An asthmatic Queenslander, Tonelli took up the sport on the urging of his parents to fix this problem, and at the age of 12, won the 100 m freestyle at the Queensland Championships. In 1973, at the age of 15, he competed in his first ever Australian Age Championships in Hobart, winning the 100 m and 200 m freestyle and the 200 m backstroke. Attempting to qualify for the 1973 World Aquatics Championships, he managed four fourth placings at the first selection event, and was then injured while participating in judo. This restricted him to swimming backstroke for four months. At the final selection event, he came second in both the 100 m and 200 m backstroke, behind Olympic gold medallist Brad Cooper to qualify for his international debut. He came sixth in Belgrade in the 200 m backstroke, behind East Germany's Roland Matthes, who set a world record.
Tonelli won his first Australian titles in 1974, winning both the 100 m backstroke and 200 m butterfly. He had his first international success at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand, where he won gold and silver in the 100 m and 200 m backstroke respectively, being thwarted by Cooper in the 200 m. He also claimed a silver in the 4x100 m medley relay despite being part of an Australian record, but was eliminated in the heats of the 200 m butterfly.
In 1975, Tonelli won the 100 m backstroke and the 200 m backstroke and butterfly events at the Australian Championships. He won his first global medal at the 1975 World Aquatics Championships in Cali, Colombia after placing second in the 200 m backstroke. He then accepted a swimming scholarship from the University of Alabama, after rejecting offers from Stanford University and Harvard University, eventually completing a BA in Communications and Film.
At the 1976 Australian Championships, Tonelli won the 100 m backstroke but was relegated to silver in the 200 m event by Mark Kerry. Despite Australia's terrible performance at the 1976 Montreal Olympics where they won just one solitary medal in swimming, Tonelli acquitted himself well, finishing 4th in the 200 m and 8th in the 100 m backstroke events. He also competed in the 4x200 m freestyle relay team which was eliminated in the heats.
Tonelli's career appeared to be on the rise when he won the US Championship in the 100 m backstroke in 1977, and then qualified for the 1978 Commonwealth Games by swimming in special events in the United States. However his international career appeared to be in disarray when along with two teammates, Mark Kerry and Joe Dixon, he was expelled from the Australian team for the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Canada after a disciplinary breach at a training camp in Honolulu, Hawaii. He returned to the United States, winning the 100 m backstroke title again.
In 1979 Tonelli failed to defend his US title, but won both the 100 m freestyle, butterfly and backstroke events at the Australian Championships. He repeated the freestyle and butterfly victories in 1980 to gain selection for the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, being selected in the 100 m freestyle, where he reached the semifinals and making the final of the 100 m backstroke. He also competed in the 4x200 m freestyle relay, which came seventh after withdrawing from the 100 m butterfly to preserve energy for the relay, which was on the same night. He swam a disappointing 2 m 07s in the 200 m backstroke, 4s outside his best time to be eliminated in the heats. Along with Neil Brooks, Mark Kerry and Peter Evans, Tonelli swam the butterfly leg with the Australians finishing 0.22s ahead of the Soviet Union to claim the gold. So much had Tonelli improved since the selection of the team that had he swum the same time in the individual event, he would have claimed the silver medal. He retired after the games.
Tonelli later did television commentary for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, opened his own swimming school and started his own computing business.
References
- Andrews, Malcolm (2000). Australia at the Olympic Games.
- Howell, Max (1986). Aussie Gold.
