Bill Mahony

{{Short description|Canadian swimmer (born 1949)}}

{{similar names|William Mahony (disambiguation){{!}}William Mahony}}

{{Infobox swimmer

| name = Bill Mahony

| alt =

| caption = Mahony c. 1972

| fullname = William Victor Mahony

| nicknames =

| national_team = Canada

| strokes = Breaststroke

| club = Pacific Dolphins

| collegeteam = University of British Columbia
University of Michigan

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1949|9|16|mf=y}}

| birth_place = New Westminster, British Columbia

| death_date =

| death_place =

| height = {{convert|1.80|m|ftin|abbr=on}}

| weight = {{convert|70|kg|lb|0|abbr=on}}

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalCountry | {{CAN}}}}

{{MedalOlympics}}

{{MedalBronze | 1972 Munich | 4×100 m medley}}

{{MedalCompetition | Commonwealth Games}}

{{MedalGold | 1970 Edinburgh | 100 m breaststroke}}

{{MedalGold | 1970 Edinburgh | 200 m breaststroke}}

{{MedalGold | 1970 Edinburgh | 4×100 m medley}}

{{MedalGold | 1974 Christchurch | 4×100 m medley}}

{{MedalBronze | 1966 Kingston | 220 yd breaststroke}}

{{MedalCompetition | Pan American Games}}

{{MedalSilver | 1967 Winnipeg | 4×100 m medley}}

{{MedalSilver | 1971 Cali | 4×100 m medley}}

}}

William Victor Mahony (born September 16, 1949) is a former breaststroke swimmer who represented Canada in multiple international championships from 1966 to 1974, including two Summer Olympics, the Pan American Games, and two Commonwealth Games.

Mahony began his international career at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Jamaica, with a bronze medal in the 220-yard breaststroke. In Mexico City for the 1968 Summer Olympics, he competed in the semifinals of the 100-metre breaststroke, the preliminary heats of the 200-metre breaststroke, and the finals of the men's 4×100-metre medley relay.[https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ma/bill-mahony-1.html Bill Mahony] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054333/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ma/bill-mahony-1.html |date=2013-09-21 }}. Sports Reference

He attended the University of Michigan, where he swam for the Michigan Wolverines swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and Big Ten Conference competition from 1969 to 1971. He received All-American honours during each of his three varsity seasons as a college swimmer in the States. Despite being of Canadian nationality he won the ASA National British Championships 220 yards breaststroke title in 1969.{{cite web|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS152400139/GDCS?u=oxfshlib&sid=GDCS&xid=e1464830|title="Swimming." Times, 11 Aug. 1969, p. 9.|website=Times Digital Archive}}

At the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, he won three gold medals in the 100-metre and 200-metre breaststroke, and the 4×100-metre medley relay. In Cali, Colombia for the 1971 Pan American Games, Mahony earned a silver medal as a member of Canada's 4×100-metre medley relay team. At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, he won a bronze medal in the men's 4×100-metre medley relay, together with Canadian teammates Erik Fish, Bruce Robertson and Robert Kasting.

After taking a year off, in his final international event at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand, he won another gold medal swimming his lifetime fastest Breastroke leg for the Canadian team in the 4×100-metre medley relay, alongside Brian Phillips, Bruce Robertson and Steve Pickell.

From 1977 to 1987 he developed the Adapted Aquatics program at Variety's Treatment Centre in Surrey, British Columbia, and helped to form the British Columbia Branch of the Cerebral Palsy Sports Association. Later, while coaching paraplegic and blind swimmers, he was selected to coach the Canadian swimmers at the 1980 Olympics for the Disabled in the Netherlands. He was awarded Athlete of the Year in New Westminster, and inducted into the BC Swimming Hall of Fame, Canadian Swimming Hall of Fame, and BC Sports Hall of Fame.