Quietly Confident Quartet - Aftermath

Aftermath

The quartet never competed as a unit after the Moscow Olympics. Tonelli retired immediately after the Games, while Kerry took an extended break. The backstroker attempted a comeback in the leadup to the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, but his abbreviated preparation before the selection trials was not enough and he was defeated by other swimmers. This left Evans and Brooks as the only members of the 1980 team to participate in Australia's medley relay victory at the Commonwealth Games. In 1984, Kerry secured a recall to the team as Australia's preferred backstroker, while Brooks was surpassed by Mark Stockwell as the leading freestyler. Australia came third in the 1984 Summer Olympics in the medley relay as the Americans returned to the Olympic fold; Evans and Kerry swam in the final, while Brooks did the freestyle leg in the heats. Evans and Kerry retired after the Olympics, and Brooks was not the first-choice swimmer in 1986, meaning that a totally different quartet competed in the medley relay at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. Brooks was suspended for drunken behaviour on the flight back to Australia, and then retired, and all four members of the Quietly Confident Quartet had departed the Australian swimming scene.