His younger brother Paul was a promising youth swimmer who defeated dual Olympic gold medallist Michael Wenden, and later became a professional rugby league footballer.

Berry was educated at De La Salle College, and represented the school in athletics and rugby league, with moderate success.

Berry joined the Pyrmont Club, which trained at Victoria Park Swimming Pool, under Eric Hayes, and swam from 1956 until 1958 as a freestyler, with reasonable age group success.

Arriving in Rome, Berry swam in the heats of the 4×100-metre medley relay, before being replaced by Hayes in the final, who combined with David Theile, Terry Gathercole and Geoff Shipton to claim silver behind the United States.

In the four bilateral meets at Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart, Berry managed to beat Hayes in the last race, making a psychological breakthrough.

In 1963 Berry successfully defended both of his butterfly titles, and then made a European tour with the Australian team, and then passed the entry examinations to Indiana University, and moved to the United States on a swimming scholarship under Doc Counsilman.

Berry trained among high calibre swimmers at Indiana, as his teammates included Tom Stock, Chet Jastremski and Ted Stickles, holders of every backstroke, breaststroke and medley world record respectively.

During the week before the 200-metre event in Tokyo, Berry, the favourite for the gold medal, swam an extremely slow time trial during practice, in the view of opposition swimmers, leaving doubts in Talbot's mind.

Berry returned to the United States, but was unable to match his previous form, and exchanged regular wins and defeats with Robie, who swam for the University of Michigan.