Bobby swam at four FINA World Championships (2008, 2009, 2012, 2016), a Commonwealth Games and Pan-Pacs, and in 2008 broke the 50m Backstroke short course World Record. He has six FINA World Championship medals, including Gold in the 50m Backstroke at the 11th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) in Istanbul.

He coached South Africa's Chad le Clos and Cameron van der Burgh to medals at the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest, and in 2018 officially retired from competitive swimming. Bobby is now Head Coach of the Loreto Normanhurst Swimming Club in Sydney, Australia. Bobby will commentate on the Swimming in Budapest for the fourth consecutive time, having partnered up with Mike McCann in Hangzhou 2018, Gwangju.

You are a former swimmer, world champion, World Record Holder, coach and now commentator. How does it feel for you to be on the other side of the pool?

I feel very privileged to have experienced a lot of things. It is my ninth FINA World Championships. I competed in four as a swimmer, one as a coach and another four as a commentator. 

If to compare the three roles, when you’re an athlete you’re very concentrated on yourself, when you're a coach, you've got to do everything for the athlete. And as a commentator, I can just sit back and be a swimming fan, which I think is what I am first and foremost. I'm very passionate about the sport and I love watching swimming. For me, it’s probably the most enjoyable role now - to have the best seat, next to the pool deck and watch every single race, get to see all the world records, all the relays and just talk about what's happening in front of me and commentate the race obviously.

I feel very privileged to be a commentator in this position.

What do you like the most in the role of the commentator?

I do a lot of reading about the athletes’ backgrounds, researching all the results from the competitions leading into the major meet. For example, for this World Championships, I paid close attention to the recent national championships, studying those results and making sure that I have as much information as I can.

During the Championships, through the first couple of days, we're seeing so much swimming happen. We get provided extended start lists from FINA, which is good for developing our background knowledge, especially for some champions that have been there for a long time, like Katinka Hosszu or Sarah Sjostrom or Katie Ledecky. Their rap sheet is just so long so it's good to have that information on hand and know how many times they've broken the world record, and how many times they became a world champion. Their titles get bigger and bigger every year. We need as much information as we can, and to translate that to the fans in a concise way.

Do you remember the first competition that you commentated on? How was it?

The first one was FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) 2018 in Hangzhou, China. It was really exciting. I was watching a lot of my friends and former competitors racing so I knew a lot of information there that I could talk about. I think that helped me feel more comfortable in the position. Also, having a guy like Mike McCann with more than 30 years of experience with FINA next to me was an honour. He guided me through and is still teaching me all the ins and outs about swimming commentating. The biggest thing to convey is not only what you are seeing in the pool, but what is on the screen for the people back at home. He has been a great mentor, as has the rest of the broadcast team since I joined.

This is my 4th FINA World Championships as a commentator, but I feel like I have already done more because the weeks are so long with so many heats and finals, so I feel comfortable in the position now.

What has been your favourite competition to commentate so far, and the most challenging one?

I think for me the FINA World Championships 2019 in Gwangju was exciting. Ariarne Titmus beat Katie Ledecky in the 400m free for the first time. There was the story about Mack Horton refusing to share a podium with Sun Yang podium and many other of the ordinary situations. It got me excited as a swimming person because it is not only about the swimming, but also about different storylines.

And then obviously, even here in Budapest, we have seen a world record from Kristof Milak in front of his home crowd in Budapest. It is incredible. New guys are coming along like Thomas Ceccon, Leon Marchand, and of course David Popovici. So watching these young European stars come through has been pleasing to see, and I think refreshing for world swimming.

As for the most challenging, the mixed relays are very difficult to commentate, with having two males and two females and the order that they put them in because you only know who's going to win with 50 meters to go when it all evens out.

How is the Swimming World Championships 2022 in Budapest for you?

The organising committee here in Budapest do an amazing job and they've done it at late notice because the World Championships in Fukuoka got cancelled.

For me, the Duna arena is one of the best permanent swimming venues in the world.

There are 5000 fans and the stands are filled every night and the Hungarians are passionate about all the aquatic sports, especially swimming.

And obviously, Budapest is an amazing city to spend 8 days of competition here as well, so it's been really enjoyable. I saw that Budapest is hosting the 2024 Short Course World Championships and 2027 FINA World Championships again so I am very excited to hopefully keep getting invited in the future.