He began to train under Forbes Carlile in 1947 and won the 220yd breaststroke at the Australian Championships, as well as helping New South Wales to win the 3x110yd medley relay.

Davies arrived in Helsinki as the favourite after setting the 200-yard breaststroke (short course) world record[10] earlier in the year, but after a poor time trial a week before the Games, he was forced to restrict his training to under a kilometre per day and sleep for 20 hours daily.

[17][18] In April 1996, Davies overturned the state conviction of Charles Keating for his involvement in the savings and loan scandal due to flawed jury instructions.

[19][20] In June 1998, Davies mediated the $400 million settlement which Merrill Lynch agreed to pay for its role in causing the Orange County, California bankruptcy.

[21] In 1993, Davies presided over the federal retrial of four Los Angeles Police Department officers for the beating of Rodney King.

[22] The United States Federal Sentencing Guidelines recommend the offenders serve up to ten years in prison.

[22] In February 1996, that judgment was itself reversed by the Supreme Court of the United States, which found that Davies had not abused his discretion.

In my view, he was the judge who saved L.A. with his superb handling of the federal civil rights trial of the police who beat Rodney King.

The 1952 US Olympic Book lists the 200-metre breaststroke world record as belonging to Herbert Klein with a time of 2:27.3 who swam it in a short course pool.