Kevin Berry, 61; 1964 Olympic gold medalist set 10 swimming records

Kevin Berry, 61, who won a gold medal for Australia at the 1964 Olympics and set 10 swimming world records during his career, died Thursday after a fall in a nursing home, the organization Swimming Australia announced. He had suffered from an undisclosed illness in recent years.

Berry’s gold at the Tokyo Games came in the 200-meter butterfly and followed his three gold medals at the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia. In Tokyo, he also won a bronze medal in the 4 X 100 medley relay.

A native of Sydney, Australia, Berry competed in the 1960 Rome Olympics when he was 15.

In an earlier era, it was not uncommon for Olympic athletes to hold odd jobs, Berry told Kyodo News Service in 1996. In Tokyo, he had worked at a gas station and washed dishes at a steakhouse, and once was required to clean up after a party held in honor of his gold medal.

After retiring from swimming in 1967, he was photo editor of the Sydney Morning Herald and later was head of sports at Australian Broadcasting Corp.