Kevin O'Halloran
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| National team |
 Australia
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| Born |
3 March 1937 Katanning, Western Australia |
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| Died | 5 July 1976 (aged 39) Kojonup, Western Australia |
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| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||||||||||||
| Weight | 82 kg (181 lb) | ||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||
| Strokes | Freestyle | ||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Kevin O'Halloran (3 March 1937 – 5 July 1976) was an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1950s who won a gold medal in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne.
The first Western Australian to win Olympic gold, O'Halloran learnt to swim in his hometown of Katanning. He moved to Perth to attend secondary schooling at Guildford Grammar School, where he became more committed to swimming. Competitive swimming was not well developed in Western Australia; races were held in muddy river pools. So in late 1955, O'Halloran moved to the east coast to support his attempt to qualify for the Olympics. His new coach, Frank Guthrie, overhauled his training regimen, and within a year O'Halloran had reduced his times by approximately ten percent. He gained Olympic selection in the relay and the 400-metre freestyle. O'Halloran led off the Australian quartet on the way to a new world record, before placing sixth in the 400-metre.
Thereafter, O'Halloran's career was beset by ear problems, and he retired in 1958 after failing to qualify for the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. In 1976, O'Halloran died after tripping and accidentally shooting himself.
Born in Katanning, O'Halloran grew up in Kojonup, 40 km (25 mi) to the west of his Katanning. He had two brothers and a sister, and the family lived on a 9,000-acre (36 km2) sheep farm established by his grandfather in 1900.
But after his father enlisted during the Second World War, his mother could no longer run the farm and raise the children by herself, so the family returned to Katanning and stayed there for seven years. It was one of the few country towns in Western Australia that had a public swimming pool.
Along with his siblings, O'Halloran learned to swim there, often defeating local boys who were four years his senior. At the age of eight, he was taught to swim competitively by his teacher at Katanning State Primary School. She had been an age group champion in her youth.
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