Death of Forbes Carlile, 'father of modern Australian swimming', at age 95

Forbes Carlile, MBE, the Victorian often described as the "father of modern Australian swimming" who laid the foundations for the success of Australia’s Olympic swimming team using science, has died. He was 95.

Carlile died this morning in Sydney’s Concord hospital following a short illness.

Carlile is the only Australian to have represented at the Olympics first as a coach and then as an athlete. He was a pioneer on several fronts, becoming the country’s youngest Olympic coach in London in 1948, then as Australia’s first-ever Olympian in modern pentathlon in 1952 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 five 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.

He counted Shane Gould, Karen Moras, Gail Neall and Terry Gathercole among his charges.

Gould at one point simultaneously held the world records for all freestyle distances from 100 to 1500 metres, an unrivaled feat at a time when Carlile’s scientific approach married with the Sydneysider’s astonishing natural talent.

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 Carlile was able to structure training and measure the performance of athletes year round.

The Australian Olympic team’s chef de mission Kitty Chiller, also a former pentathlete, offered her condolences on behalf of the team.

Chiller stated “the passing of Forbes Carlile is incredibly sad and our thoughts are with his wife Ursula.

“He was a true legend in Australian Olympic history as both an athlete and a coach.”

Chiller said they caught up just a month ago at an annual reunion for the Helsinki Olympics, where he asked her about the pentathlon event at the 2014 Rio Games.

Born in Armadale, Victoria, in 1921, Carlile grew up in Mosman in Sydney and confessed to at first being “an unwilling student” during swimming lessons at Balmoral rock pool.

It was in Sydney, at the Drummoyne pool, that Carlile established Australia’s first commercial swimming school at the Drummoyne pool, which was filled from the harbour on a daily basis.

While his method was for all ages and levels, he introduced scientific rigour to modern swimming, and training techniques such as tapering, log books, warm-ups and shave downs. The pace clock was a Carlile creation. His swimming program became part of a university degree and his 1963 book, Forbes Carlile on Swimming, became a highly respected and referred to text on freestyle swimming.

He relocated to the Ryde Swimming Centre in 1961 with his wife Ursula, also a swimming coach, but it was unheated and a few years later they built a 12.5 metre indoor pool in the backyard of the house they rented nearby.

That garage was the start of year-round swimming lessons and the back of the Carlile family house at continues to teach children to swim five decades later, including the great grandchildren of his original students.

Carlile Swimming continues to operate out of this facility today.

Carlile was inducted into the International Swimming Hall in 1977, the same year he was made a Member of the British Empire.

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 nine 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, stated “the Carlile Swimming family is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of it’s 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.”

Carlile is survived by his wife, Ursula.

Images: Forbes Carlile (top) and (below) at Carlile Swimming's Cross Street facility. Middle image shows Forbes Carlile (seated right) at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

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