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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.
Tonelli was born in Ipswich, Queensland to a working-class family. His father was a blue-collar worker of Dutch origin and his mother worked in the Queensland Department of Industrial Relations. Tonelli was effectively an only child, with a younger sister not being born until he was 14. His family moved around frequently before settling in Brisbane. Tonelli's family had no history of athletic success, and had little knowledge of swimming, but his mother encouraged him to take up the sport to ease his problems with asthma. In his first year, he came third in his age group at Western Districts Club, prompting his mother to send him at age nine to John Keating at the Centenary Pool in the hope that her son could improve to Olympic standards. By the age of ten, Tonelli was regularly winning at school carnivals and at eleven, came seventh in the 100 m freestyle in his division at the State Championships, before winning it in the following year.
In 1973, at the age of 15, Tonelli competed in his first ever Australian Age Championships in Hobart, winning the 100 m and 200 m freestyle and the 200 m backstroke. These results allowed him to swim at the preliminary qualifying trials for the 1973 World Aquatics Championships, where he managed four fourth placings. Upon returning to Brisbane, he was injured while participating in judo at high school, tearing some rib cartilage. This injury restricted him to swimming backstroke for four months due to pain, and his times dropped steadily during this period as be trained under John Rigby at the Valley Pool. 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 the World Championships in Belgrade, Yuogslavia in the 200 m backstroke, behind East Germany's Roland Matthes, who set a world record.
Tonelli won his first Australian titles in 1974, claiming both the 100 m backstroke and 200 m butterfly in his first attempt at the stroke at senior national level. He completed the victories in times of 59.55 s and 2 m 7.30 s. Tonelli also claimed victory with the Queensland team in the 4 × 200 m freestyle and the 4 100 m medley relay team. It was the first time that Queensland had won the former relay and Tonelli had claimed gold medals in three different strokes at his first Australian Championships.
Tonelli was selected for the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand, where he had his first success at international level. He won his first gold medal at international level in the 100 m backstroke, where he won his heat comfortably before winning in a Games record of 59.65 s. Tonelli was second to Cooper in the 200 m backstroke, finishing in a time of 2 m 9.47 s, more than three seconds in arrears. He also claimed a silver in the 4 × 100 m medley relay, being thwarted by Canada 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.
Notes
References
- Andrews, Malcolm (2000). Australia at the Olympic Games. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ISBN 0-7333-0884-8.
- Howell, Max (1986). Aussie Gold. Brooks Waterloo. ISBN 0-86440-680-0.
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