Peter Kemp learned his water polo whilst a member of the Leander Club in London. His business commitments, as a sales manager, took him around Britain, and it was at the crack Manchester Osborne club that he came on as a top-class water polo player. His next move took him to the north-east in 1902, when he played for Newcastle. A further move in 1906 took him back to the London area where he teamed up with the London Amateur and Barking Swimming Clubs. He won many representative honours, playing for both Surrey and Middlesex, and also represented both the North and the South. Kemp also won two England caps, both against Ireland, in 1900 and 1902.
At the 1900 Paris Olympics, on the same day that he won a water polo gold medal, Kemp entered the obstacle race held in the River Seine. In this highly unusual event, competitors had to climb over a pole then scramble over one row of boats before finally swimming under another. Some sources indicate that the competitors swam through barrels instead of over and under the boats, but whatever the hazards may have been, Kemp finished third and was the best placed of the British competitors. He also swam in the 200 metre freestyle at the Olympics, but was unplaced.
Great Britain