Maxwell Metzker

Age

64

Olympic History

Montreal 1976

Moscow 1980

Career Events

Swimming Mens 1500m Freestyle

Swimming Mens 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay

Swimming Mens 400m Freestyle

 

Maxwell's Story

Dual Olympian, Max Metzker, was an exceptional freestyle distance swimmer.  He competed in the 400 metres and 1500 metres freestyle events at Montreal 1976 with a best placing of sixth in the longer event (Steven Holland finished third).  

Four years later, at Moscow 1980, he was the Australian team’s joined flag-bearer, with Denise Robertson, at the opening ceremony. At those boycott-ravaged Olympics, Australia was one of sixteen teams that marched behind the Olympic flag.
 
In the Moscow pool, he won the bronze medal in the 1500 metres freestyle in a race in which the winner, Vladimir Salnikov from the USSR, broke the 15-minute barrier for the first time. Metzker’s medal in what is often called ‘Australia’s Olympic event’ was the last before Kieren Perkins’s world-record shattering win in 1992. Also in Moscow, Metzker made the finals in the 400 metres freestyle and swam in the heats of the 4 x 200 metres freestyle relay.

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