Bennett hosts an Audience with Michael Klim OAM

Michael was first selected to represent Australia as a 17 year old still at Wesley College in Melbourne. He competed in the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia.  By 1997 he was named Male Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World Magazine.  In 1999 he set a world record for the 100 meters butterfly twice.  He was Australian Institute of Sport Athlete of the Year in 1988 and 1999.  Inducted into the AIS Best of the Best in 2001.  In the world Aquatic Championships in 1999 held in Perth (Challenge Stadium), Michael was the leading swimmer of the meet.  He got gold in the 200m freestyle, 100m butterfly, silver in the 100m freestyle, bronze in the 50m freestyle and a member of each of Australia’s three relay teams winning gold in the 4 x 200 freestyle relay, the 4 x 100 medley relay and silver in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay.

Most famously, Michael was the lead-off swimmer in Australia’s 4 x 100m freestyle relay at the summer Olympics in Sydney.  Prior to 2000, the Americans had always won gold in the 4 x 100m relay and threatened (by Gary Hall Junior) to smash Australia like a guitar.  Michael led off the relay which paved the way for a world record.  Three days later he was part of the 4 x 200m freestyle relay that set another world record.  He claimed a silver medal in the 100m butterfly and a silver in the 4 x 100m medley relay.

In 2001 at Fukuoka, Japan, in the world championships he was a key member of the gold medal winning 4 x 200m freestyle relay.  Two of the other swimmers in the 4 x 200m relay team that year were Western Australians, Bill Kirby and Todd Pearson.

In 2020 he experienced for the first time the symptoms of a rare auto-immune condition.  The condition rapidly affected him causing him to lose sensation in both his feet and lost the use of both calf muscles and his left quad.  Michael is quoted as saying “that was one of the scariest moments I had.  For me, my ability to do anything physical was something I used to pride myself on and used to give me mental strength.  Bit by bit [it] was being taken away.”  Michael’s philosophy of dealing with this illness is expressed in the following quote “I give myself an hour a day to feel sorry and angry and frustrated and whatever emotion comes in my mind – and then I move on with the rest of my life”.