An integral part of one of Australia’s greatest ever sporting moments - yet four years prior, Olympic Gold Medalist Bill Kirby was close to quitting the sport, and potentially ending his life. 

At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Bill Kirby was the fourth and final swimmer in Australia’s historic 4x200m freestyle relay victory, setting a new world record and kickstarting a golden era of Australian swimming. Yet as Bill was walking along the pool deck before that final, hearing the screams of adoration from more than 18,000 people, he was shell shocked and frozen, and was forced to sit, meditate and revisit the moments during his retirement from swimming.   

On this week’s episode of The Risk Equation, Dr Chris Maguire talks to Bill about his incredible career and how his incomparable will, determination and grit, allowed him to come back from the darkest moments an athlete can face, to make history and build the culture and environment of Australian swimming, that 20 years later, would not exist without him. 

Don Talbot, the culturally defining coach that led Bill and his teammates to gold in Sydney, sadly passed on November 3rd, 2020. This week’s episode was recorded before Don’s passing, in late October. 

Everyone at The Risk Equation Podcast, including Chris and those behind the scenes extend our condolences to the Talbot family and to those lucky enough to know him well. 

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Thanks to Altdrop for sponsoring this week’s episode of The Risk Equation. Altdrop is an online coffee marketplace born out of the love of Melbourne’s boutique coffee scene. The vision at Altdrop is to offer an online platform connecting coffee-lovers with Melbourne’s most-loved roasters, all under one roof, delivered to your door. 

Visit Altdrop.com.au and for 10% of your first order, use code ‘RISK’ at checkout. 

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The Risk Equation is edited and produced by Edward Gooden.

For show enquiries: [email protected] 

Music and sound effects: Epidemic Sound