46 Facts About Mark Tonelli

Mark Tonelli took up swimming due to his asthma, and quickly came to prominence.

In 1975, Mark Tonelli enrolled at the University of Alabama in the United States, studying and competing in the collegiate sport system.

Mark Tonelli was selected in both backstroke events for the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, but struggled and missed the medals in both events.

Mark Tonelli made little impact in the individual events, only reaching one final.

Australia lacked butterfly swimmers and Mark Tonelli was versatile, so he swum the stroke in the medley relay.

Mark Tonelli performed above his previous record, posting a time fast enough to win silver in the corresponding individual event and helping Australia to an unexpected win.

Mark Tonelli's father Lyndon was a blue-collar worker of Dutch origin and his Irish mother Muriel worked in the Queensland Department of Industrial Relations.

Mark Tonelli adopted his stepfather's surname, but did not officially change his name until he was 18.

Mark Tonelli was effectively an only child; his half-sister was not born until he was 14.

Mark Tonelli's family moved around frequently due to his stepfather's work, before settling permanently in Brisbane.

Mark 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 asthma.

Mark Tonelli said the reality was that he could hardly swim at all.

Mark Tonelli said that his greatest motivation was the desire to impress his parents.

Mark Tonelli said "Everyone, except me, knew it was a ploy simply to keep the team on its toes".

Mark Tonelli self-deprecatingly noted that "I didn't get to see him [Matthes] swim in the final, because I was in the same race five sets of speedos behind".

In total, Mark Tonelli had claimed gold medals in three different strokes at his first Australian Championships.

Mark Tonelli was selected for the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand, where he had his first medal success at international level.

Mark Tonelli was part of the Queensland team that successfully defended their medley relay title.

Mark Tonelli was thus selected for the 1975 World Championships in Cali, Colombia.

The tactic backfired and Mark Tonelli ended with the silver medal.

Mark Tonelli vowed that from then on, he would always back his judgment and race strategy.

Mark Tonelli was almost killed before ever swimming for the university, suffering a mid-air parachute malfunction during an activity with the campus skydiving club.

Mark Tonelli continued in the United States in 1978, recollecting "I really hit my straps", reporting that he had swum world records in time trials at training.

Mark Tonelli raced in five events at the Canada Cup held in Edmonton, winning four.

Mark Tonelli returned to Mission Viejo and continued his build-up despite his arm injury, before flying to the Australian training camp in Hawaii, where he was made team captain.

Mark Tonelli admitted to the officials that he had smoked marijuana and been drinking on the night.

Mark Tonelli admitted to smoking marijuana, but defended his actions as being legal under Hawaii law.

Mark Tonelli returned to the United States, while his compatriots competed for Australia.

Mark Tonelli said that his career was "never the same again" after his expulsion by a "kangaroo court", feeling that the punishment had weakened his will.

Mark Tonelli was driving the powerboat when he did a U-turn that resulted in his teammate being thrown off his skis and into the water.

Mark Tonelli however, knew that only the sportspeople would suffer from a boycott and that trade relations would continue unabated.

Mark Tonelli took a leadership role among the Australian athletes to fight for their right to compete.

Mark Tonelli said that Fraser was sending "wheat to feed the Russian army, wool to clothe the army and Australian metal to make Russian guns", saying that this contradicted the proposed boycott in protest against Soviet military policy.

Shilton expressed sympathy to the athletes, which Mark Tonelli interpreted as condescension.

Unaware that the camera was broadcasting images of him, Mark Tonelli responded by rolling his eyes and twirling his finger, a gaffe that was shown on national television.

Mark Tonelli combined with Kerry, Graeme Brewer and Ron McKeon as Australia qualified fourth before coming seventh.

Kerry had been eliminated in the backstroke semifinals, while Mark Tonelli was swimming as a makeshift butterflyer.

Mark Tonelli named the foursome the Quietly Confident Quartet, and they exhibited a calm self-belief as they lined up for the race.

Mark Tonelli did so with an uneven arm technique due to the unequal strength in his arms.

Mark Tonelli felt that his success was based around his ability to make fast starts from the blocks, and attributed his success to his mental approach and his ability to convert his energy into a fast swim in under one minute.

Mark Tonelli had a deliberate strategy of making himself nervous before the race, feeling that he thrived on pressure.

Mark Tonelli completed a series for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on their Lifestyle TV program and produced movies on swimming and child development.

Mark Tonelli later set up his own computing business, which he ran for three years.

Mark Tonelli served as a sports administrator, completing a term on the Australian Sports Commission in its early years in the 1980s.

Mark Tonelli cited his expulsion from the Australian team as his motivation for having an appeals mechanism.

Mark Tonelli married his wife Lee in the late 1990s.