Born Katanning WA
3 March 1937 – 5 July 1976
Kevin O’Halloran, the son of a Kojonup farmer, earned a permanent and prominent place in Western Australia’s sporting records for his performances at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne.
At those Games O’Halloran became the first form WA to win an Olympic swimming gold medal – as a member of the 4 x 200m freestyle relay team.
Competing at an international meeting for the first time, O’Halloran was selected as the lead-off swimmer in the relay final. He recorded as personal best time of 2min 6.8sec to give Australia the early lead and this was gradually increased by team mates John Devitt Murray Rose and John Henricks.
The Australian quartet beat the United States and Soviet Union by a commanding 7.9sec in the world record time of 8min 23.6sec.
Earlier at the Games, O’Halloran finished fourth in the 400m freestyle final behind Rose, Japan’s Tsuyoshi Yamanaka and American George Breen. He missed the bronze medal by only 0.4sec in what was the best individual swim of his career.
O’Halloran’s stay at or near the top in Australian swimming was restricted to 1956. At the 1956 Australian championships, he finished third in the 440yds freestyle (4.37.8) and fourth in the 220yds (2.9.2).
He made a serious bid for selection in the 1958 Commonwealth Games team but did not succeed at the trials, partly due to severe ear trouble. He returned to the family farm, never to make a comeback. In July of 1976 O’Halloran was killed in a shooting accident on the family farm at Kojonup. A shotgun he was carrying discharged as he was climbing through a fence on the property.