The son of a barrister, Healy was born in Darlinghurst, an inner-city suburb of Sydney, but moved with his family to the rural town of Bowral where he received his primary schooling.

At the Games in Athens, Healy came third in the 100 m freestyle behind the United States' Charles Daniels and Hungary's Zoltan Halmay.

However, Healy intervened and assisted in an appeal to allow the Americans to swim another special race in order to qualify for the final.

[5] In the 400 m freestyle, Healy set a world record in his heat, but this was improved in the semifinals by George Hodgson of Canada and Hardwick by over ten seconds.

After the Games, Healy toured Europe, where he lowered Beaurepaire's 220 yd world record by more than three seconds in Scotland, before retiring and returning to Australia.

[5] Healy encouraged the practice of swimming daily for exercise and was active in lifesaving at Manly beach, winning the Royal Humane Society silver medal for saving numerous surfers.

[7] In a slightly amended form, 20,000 copies of the article were later released, free of charge, in the United Kingdom, under the title The Crawl Stroke.

[9] In September 1915, Healy decided to enlist in the Australian Defence Force and served as a quartermaster sergeant in Egypt and France.

[5][11][12] In 2017, fellow Australian Olympic gold medallist John Devitt and author Larry Writer travelled to France to research Healy's story.

Decathlete Cedric Dubler was the inaugural recipient in 2022 for assisting compatriot and eventual Bronze Medalist Ashley Moloney at the 2020 Summer Olympics.