John Devitt
John Devitt and Kaye Nottle in 1956
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | John Thomas Devitt | |||||||||||||||||||||
| National team |
 Australia
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| Born |
4 February 1937 Granville, New South Wales |
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| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 85 kg (187 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Freestyle | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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John Thomas Devitt, AM (born 4 February 1937) is an Australian sprint freestyle swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won a gold medal in the 100-metre freestyle at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. He won in controversial circumstances, being awarded the gold medal despite the timekeepers recording a slower time than the American silver medallist Lance Larson. He also claimed a gold medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay.
Growing up just 250 metres from the Granville Olympic Pool, Devitt learnt to swim as part of the government-funded Learn to Swim program. He was educated first at Holy Family Primary School, The Trongate, Granville East, and later at Parramatta Marist High School in Parramatta. Both were Roman Catholic schools, where he also swum competitively for the school team. Devitt was initially trained by Tom Penny at the Clyde Swim Club, based at the Granville Pool, until it disbanded in 1947 and he moved to Manly Swim Club along with Penny. Devitt remains a member of the Swim Club. Penny often allowed his swimmers to train in warm waters by having them swim against the current of discharged water from a power plant. Devitt believed that such training gave him an advantage as it taught him to be unaffected by "rain, heat, currents or any other natural or unnatural variables".
Devitt's first forays into national competition were at the 1952 Australian Championships, where he was continually in the shadow of club-mate Barry Darke, who set five Australian records in their age group. Devitt trailed Darke again at the 1953 championships, but Darke retired afterwards to become a mechanic, leaving Devitt to dominate his age group. However, in the open ranks, he was often beaten by Jon Henricks in the sprint events, and Gary Chapman and Murray Rose in the longer events. Rose and Henricks went on to claim individual gold at the 1956 Summer Olympics. At the age of 18, with Henricks initially sidelined by injury, Devitt was named as the captain of the New South Wales team for the 1955 Australian Championships. However, Henricks recovered and relegated Devitt to silver in the 110-yard freestyle. He claimed silver in the 220-yard freestyle, behind Rose. Devitt's decision to concentrate on sprinting led to conflict with Penny, and he then left Penny and began self-coaching. After beginning to regress, Devitt considered retirement, until he joined Sam Herford at the Spit Baths alongside Murray Rose.
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