a slower time than his Australian records. Kerry added two titles as a member of the 4 × 100 m medley and freestyle relay teams for New South Wales. This earned Kerry his second trip to the Olympics, this time in Moscow. However, another obstacle arose with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which resulted in a boycott of the Games by a large part of the Western world, led by the United States. The Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser was also the patron of the Australian Olympic Committee, and significant political pressure came to bear on the athletes to boycott the Games. Kerry's teammate Tonelli, however, realised that only the sportspeople would suffer from a boycott and that trade relations would continue unabated. He took a leadership role among the athletes to fight for their right to compete. Kerry was equally adamant that he was going to compete, unlike some other swimmers who made personal boycotts. He received offers from Australian government officials to boycott the Games in return for financial payments. He said: Upon leaving the US for the Olympics, Kerry was threatened with the cancellation of his US visa. Kerry arrived in Moscow facing a four event schedule: he was nominated in both backstroke events and the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay and the 4 × 100 m medley relay. With the Americans and many other western swimmers absent, Australian officials were confident that their three entrants in the 100 m backstroke, Kerry, Tonelli and Glenn Patching, would all make the final and win medals. Kerry came in third both in his heat and in the semi-final, clocking 58.08 s and 58.07 s respectively, missing out on the final by just 0.02 s. He was the ninth fastest in the closely run semifinals, with the third fastest qualifier being only 0.18 s faster. Patching missed the final after slipping on the starting wall in his race, while Tonelli went on to finish seventh. Had Kerry matched his personal best of 65.50 s, he would have won the gold medal ahead of Sweden's Bengt Baron. Kerry bounced back in the 200 m backstroke and won his heat to qualify third-fastest, before claiming bronze in a time of 2 m 3.14 s behind the Hungarian duo of Sándor Wladár and Zoltán Verrasztó. He edged out the Soviet Union's Vladimir Shemetov by 0.34 s, becoming the first Australian to win