Forbes Carlile’s lifetime in swimming leaves an unrivalled legacy

Tuesday 2nd August 2016: The world of swimming is in mourning today with the loss of one of the true legends of the sport – Forbes Carlile MBE – Olympic pentathlete, innovative Olympic swimming coach, our famous father of coaching from babies to Olympic champions. He was 95 years young.

Australia’s oldest living Olympian, Carlile died after three weeks in hospital with wife and fellow Olympic coach Ursula by his side – the pair had been together through a lifetime in the sport – dedicated to their passion – swimming lovers, joined at the hip.

Very proud photo with The Legend taken 12 February 2014 at Carlile Narabeen.

He has left an enormous legacy on Australian swimming and will be remembered by former and current swimmers and coaches from all around the world today and especially when the Olympic swimming competition starts in Rio on August 6.

A man who with Ursula, forged a swimming empire in Sydney. Respected by coaches young and old. Coaching some of the sports biggest names to Olympic glory.

Australia’s elite band of current Olympic Team coaches, led by Head Coach Jacco Verhaeren, have all paid tribute to Australia’s No 1 coach and will continue to remember him and his amazing feats in the countdown to the Games.

Men like Denis Cotterell, Michael Bohl, Rohan Taylor, Chris Mooney, Vince Raleigh, David Lush, Simon Cusack, Craig Jackson and Richard Scarce have all been influenced by the Carlile midas touch.

“He was a coach of the ages,” said Verhaeren, “who changed the way we swim, the way we train, the way we race, his legacy is amazing and I know all of the coaches on the team who knew him and respected him will all remember him as we prepare the team for the ultimate in sport – the Olympic Games – the pinnacle in swimming and something very close to Forbes’ heart.”

Forbes and Ursula were the original power couple of Australian swimming – they transcended the sport from just swimming laps, pioneering the first scientific experimentation with Professor Frank Cotton – even hypnotism to Olympians like Gary Winram.

The name Carlile will long live in the history of swimming throughout Australia and the world – the name of the club that originated in their backyard in Cross St. Ryde in 1961 expanding throughout the decades to Ryde Aquatic, Pymble, Baulkham Hills, Narrabeen, Lane Cove, Killarney Heights, Five Dock, Cherrybrook, Carlingford and Castle Cove.

His pioneering work on elite athlete training methods with Ursula and their assistant Tom Green, produced many notable Olympians including Shane Gould, Karen Moras, Gail Neall, John Davies, Terry Gathercole, John Ryan and Ian O’Brien.

Schoolgirls Shane Gould and Gail Neall were the golden girls of the 1972 Munich Olympics – with Gould winning three gold, a silver a bronze and Neall one gold.

Throughout his coaching career, Carlile coached 52 members of the Australian Olympic, World Championship and Commonwealth games teams, capturing 12 Olympic medals, including five individual gold medals and 31 individual world records.

Carlile was Australia's first post-World War II Olympics swimming coach in 1948. He was also Australia's first competitor in the modern pentathlon at the 1952 Olympics Games in Helsinki.

Forbes was a coach to many Australian champions. During his coaching career he produced 52 Australian team representatives, who have broken 31 individual world records between them. In all, he participated in 5 Olympic Games – London, Helsinki, Melbourne, Rome and Tokyo between 1948 and 1964. He was also selected as the Head Swimming coach at the 1980 Moscow Olympics but later withdrew.

Carlile studied at the University of Sydney under Professor Frank Cotton, graduating and later lecturing in human physiology.

Together with Professor Cotton, they set up Australia's first Sports Science lab at the University of Sydney.

In 1946, at the Palm Beach rock pool, the pair set up a scientific swimming group. It was here that Forbes was able to structure training and measure the performance of athletes year round.

It was also at Palm Beach that Forbes first introduced the pace clock. This innovation has left the Carlile stamp on virtually every pool deck around the world.

His book, Forbes Carlile on Swimming, was the first modern book on competitive swimming with its study of tapering and the historical development of the crawl. Other books by Carlile include A History of Crawl Stroke Techniques to the 1960s.

In 1977, Carlile was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame at Fort Lauderdale, USA. Other awards include the Queens Jubilee Medal (1977), ASI Life Member (2003) and NSSA Hall of Fame (2003). In 1977, Carlile was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) for his services to swimming. In 1984, Carlile was inducted as a Life Member of the Australian Swim Coaches Association. In 1987, he was inducted as a Master Coach with the association. In 1989, Carlile was inducted into the Australian Sports Hall of Fame.

While competitive swimming has been Forbes’ primary passion, he has been a pioneer in the development of learn-to-swim techniques, especially in the area of baby swimming.

Today, Carlile Swimming teaches over 25,000 children to learn to swim each week across 9 swim schools. In over 50 years, Carlile learn-to-swim centres have no doubt taught more Australians to swim than any other learn-to-swim school.

The guiding principle for the learn-to-swim programs is encapsulated in Forbes's motto:“To swim well is an asset for life.”

Carlile Swimming Director, Richard Cahalan, had the final word on his master coach on behalf of he Carlile Swimming family.

“We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of founder, Forbes Carlile. A pioneer, an innovator, a scientist and widely considered as ‘swimming’s conscience’, Forbes will be sorely missed by his staff, his swimmers, his coaching peers and the worldwide swimming community. Our hearts go out to Ursula at this very sad time,” Cahalan said.