Forbes Carlile

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(3 June 19212 August 2016) was Australia's first post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Olympics swimming coach and later Australia's first competitor in the

modern pentathlon The modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport consisting of fencing (one-touch épée), freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running. The event is inspired by the traditional pentathlon held during the anci ...

at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

in Helsinki. He remains the only person to have coached and later competed at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. Born in Armadale, Victoria, Carlile is best known as a pioneer in swimming coaching. Together with his wife, Ursula, and their assistant, Tom Green, he produced many notable olympians such as

Shane Gould Shane Elizabeth Gould (born 23 November 1956) is an Australian former competition swimmer. She won three gold medals, a silver medal and a bronze, at the 1972 Summer Olympics. In 2018, she won the fifth season of ''Australian Survivor,'' becom ...

Karen Moras Karen Lynne Moras (born 6 January 1954), also known by her married name Karen Stephenson, is an Australian distance freestyle swimmer of the 1960s and 1970s who won a bronze medal in the 400-metre freestyle at the 1968 Summer Olympics. Althoug ...

, Gail Neall, John Davies, Terry Gathercole, John Ryan and

Ian O'Brien Ian Lovett O'Brien (born 3 March 1947) is an Australian breaststroke swimmer of the 1960s who won the 200 metre breaststroke at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in world record time. He won five Commonwealth Games gold medals and claime ...

. In 1972, 15-year-old Gould held world records simultaneously in the 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1500 metres freestyle and the 200m individual medley. Carlile started testing his physiological knowledge in 1944 at the Enfield pool with two young schoolboys from

Canterbury Boys' High School Canterbury Boys' High School (CBHS) is a public secondary day school for boys located in Canterbury, a south-western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located near the Canterbury Park Racecourse and about 200 metres north o ...

. He first started coaching in 1946 at the Palm Beach rock pool, north of Sydney. Success there led to him being appointed as the Australian swimming coach for the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

in London and he then went on to be head Australian coach again at the 1956 Games in Melbourne and Scientific Advisor in the 1960 Games in Rome. At the 1964 Games he was head coach for the Dutch Olympic team. He was head Australian swimming coach at the Swimming World Championships in Belgrade in 1973 which produced nine Australian World Champions. He withdrew as head coach at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Carlile studied at

The Scots College , motto_translation = O that we may be worthy of our forefathers , location = Bellevue Hill, Eastern Suburbs, Sydney , country = Australia , type = Independent single-sex primary ...

, Sydney and the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

under Professor

Frank Cotton Frank Stanley Cotton (30 April 1890 – 23 August 1955) was an Australian lecturer in physiology, specialising in the study of the effects of physical strain on the human body. Early life Cotton was born on 30 April 1890 at Camperdown, Sydney, ...

, graduating with a Masters of Science and later lecturing there in

human physiology The human body is the structure of a human being. It is composed of many different types of cells that together create tissues and subsequently organ systems. They ensure homeostasis and the viability of the human body. It comprises a head ...

. His pioneering work on elite athlete training methods included interval workouts, pace clocks and log books, heart rate tests, training under stress and

T Wave In electrocardiography, the T wave represents the repolarization of the ventricles. The interval from the beginning of the QRS complex to the apex of the T wave is referred to as the ''absolute refractory period''. The last half of the T wave ...

studies of the ventricles. He developed techniques such as even-paced swimming and the use of two-beat kicks for long-distance events. His book, ''Forbes Carlile on Swimming'' (London. 1963), was the first modern book on competitive swimming with its study of ''tapering'' and the historical development of the

crawl Crawl, The Crawl, or crawling may refer to: Biology * Crawling (human), any of several types of human quadrupedal gait * Limbless locomotion, the movement of limbless animals over the ground * Undulatory locomotion, a type of motion characterize ...

. Other books by Carlile include: ''A History of Crawl Stroke Techniques to the 1960s: An Australian Perspective'' and ''A History of Australian Swimming Training''. In 1977, Carlile was awarded an

and was inducted into the

International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the stu ...

. Other awards include the Queens Jubilee Medal (1977),

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and Dawn Fraser th ...

(1989), ASI Life Member (2003) and NSSA Hall of Fame (2003). His swimming school operates in a number of locations in and around Sydney, with former New Zealand Olympic swimmer John Coutts as director. Following the death of fencer Joy Hardon on 21 July 2016, it was erroneously reported that he had become Australia's oldest living Olympian, when in fact he was already the oldest having been born before Hardon. Carlile died aged 95 on 2 August 2016 in a Sydney hospital after a short illness. He was survived by his wife Ursula.

References

External links

* *
Carlile Swimming School website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carlile, Forbes 1921 births 2016 deaths Australian swimming coaches Australian male modern pentathletes Olympic modern pentathletes of Australia Modern pentathletes at the 1952 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Melbourne Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees University of Sydney alumni People educated at Scots College (Sydney) Australian athletics coaches People from Armadale, Victoria Sportspeople from Sydney

See also

References

External links