In 1964, Berry returned to Australia to qualify for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, breaking world records in both the 100-metre and 200-metre butterfly. Due to financial difficulties, he took a job as a petrol station attendant, and washing dishes for a steakhouse. In one case, the Australian team were hosted for a reception at the steakhouse meaning that he had to prepare and clean up despite being one of the guests. Berry attended a training camp in Ayr, Queensland under Talbot, who was the national head coach. 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. Robie broke the Olympic record in both the heat and semifinal. In the final, Berry was one of only two swimmers to have had previous Olympic experience and decided to deliberately false start in order to unsettle his opponents. He then set a time of 2:06.6, 0.3 of a second faster than his previous world record to claim gold. He later combined with Dickson, O'Brien and Peter Reynolds to claim bronze in the 4×100-metre medley relay.
