Neville Hayes

Neville Hayes (born December 2, 1943 in Sydney) was an Australian butterfly swimmer of the 1960s, who won two silver medals at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, in the 200m butterfly and the 4x100m medley relay.

Hailing from Hurstville in southern Sydney, Hayes set world records in both the 110yd and 220yd butterfly in the lead-up to the 1960 Games. However, the 100m butterfly was not contested as an individual event in that era. Hayes was aiming for success in the 200m butterfly, but came up against the United States' Michael Troy. Although Hayes improved his personal best by three seconds in the final, Troy was a further two seconds ahead, and broke his own world record. Hayes claimed the silver, with fellow Australian Kevin Berry in sixth place. Hayes then combined with David Theile, Terry Gathercole and Geoff Shipton to claim a silver medal in the 4x100m medley relay, the first time the event was held at the Olympics, again behind the American team.

In 1962, Hayes was usurped as Australia's leading butterflier when Berry defeated him at a dual meet between Australia and Japan. Later that year at the Empire Games in Perth, Berry defeated Hayes into silver the 100m butterfly by almost three seconds. Berry repeated the result in the 200m event, beating Hayes by 5.5s.

He graduated with a BA from Harvard University in 1967 and MBA from Harvard Business School in 1969.

References

• Andrews, Malcolm (2000). Australia at the Olympic Games. Sydney, New South Wales: ABC Books. pp. 197. ISBN 0-7333-0884-8.