He won in controversial circumstances, being awarded the gold medal despite the timekeepers recording a slower time than the American silver medallist Lance Larson.

At the age of 18, with Henricks initially sidelined by injury, Devitt was named as the captain of the New South Wales team for the 1955 Australian Championships.

After beginning to regress, Devitt considered retirement, until he joined Sam Herford at the Spit Baths alongside Murray Rose.

After swimming the fastest leg in the heats of the relay, he was selected along with Rose, Henricks, and Kevin O'Halloran for the final.

The Australians won the gold medal in a world record time, with Devitt clocking the fastest leg in the whole race.

With Henricks and Rose swimming and studying in the United States, Devitt became the dominant Australian freestyler, and decided to continue his career until the 1960 Summer Olympics, supporting himself as a health inspector for the Townsville City Council.

In 1960 Devitt reclaimed his 110-yard Australian title, and at the pre-1960 Summer Olympics camp in Townsville, broke the 4×100-yard freestyle relay record along with Henricks, Geoff Shipton, and David Dickson.

On arrival in Rome, Henricks was forced to withdraw from competition after falling ill. Devitt held a solid lead until the last 10-metre when Larson surged and both appeared to have touched the wall together.

The United States team appealed, bolstered by videotaped footage of the finish that appeared to show Larson the winner.

[4] This controversy would pave the way for electronic touchpads to be included in swimming events to determine finish and accurate timing.

He was involved in Sydney's winning bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics and was the Australian team manager for the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

[6] In 2017 Devitt and author Larry Writer travelled in France researching the story of Cecil Healy, an Australian soldier and fellow Olympic gold medallist who was killed in World War I.