Australian Forbes Carlile Passes Away At 95: Swimming Mourns A Coaching Pioneer

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Updated: August 2, 2016

Obituary

Legendary Australian swim coach Forbes Carlile, MBE, passed away today. He was 95. The following is the official statement and release on Carlile’s passing, followed by our SwimVortex memory and tribute to a man in whose honour we named our “Carlile Cup” last December:

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. In 1961, together with his wife Ursula, the Carlile’s built the first Indoor heated teaching facility in NSW, in the backyard of their home at Cross Street in Ryde. Carlile Swimming continues to operate out of this facility today. 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.”

Forbes is survived by his wife Ursula, who in her own right is considered a legend of both Australian and international swimming.

Carlile Swimming Director, Richard Cahalan, said:

“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.”

Our Tribute To Forbes Carlile: The Cup We Named After Him

The SwimVortex Lifetime Achievement Award is named after the 2015 recipient: Forbes Carlile.

For as long as we are here, it will be known as the Carlile Cup.

FINA having failed singularly to honour many of the biggest contributors to the sport of swimming, it has now let another towering contributor pass without ever saying “thanks for the outstanding contribution”.

Writing that line evokes memories of 2008 when the centenary dinner was coming up and I asked who would be at the party. Would Shane Gould, Debbie Meyer, Roland Matthes, Dawn Fraser, Mark Spitz and so on be there? No? Perhaps Forbes Carlile, Don Gambril? No? Well, how about Ada Kok and Mary T. Meagher, Matt Biondi, how about the terrific Greta Anderson?

No, no, don’t be silly. It’s not about them, of course not. This is about 100 years of blazers, the seats for swimmers and coaches reserved for those who joined “The Family”. Now, there’s achievement for you.

We cannot account for the choices of others but we can make our own and celebrate them. The Carlile Cup is a prize we will grant each year as long as we remain and aimed at celebrating those whose contribution is not only deep in decades but delivered leadership and pioneering progress to swimming.

Forbes Carlile – Australia

Forbes Carlile was and remains a mover and shaker where it counts: in the pool and in his work with generations of children alongside his wife Ursula.

Carlile’s outstanding contribution to the sport of swimming, from the science, pace clock and interval training he harnessed to the role of conscience he has played at the helm of a movement for the betterment of swimming, extended to pioneering work as one of the first coaches to go overseas and head a foreign program (The Netherlands in the days of Ada Kok and teammates).

Carlile’s career speaks to one of FINA’s key fears: letting those who actually know swimming and work with it every day of their lives have a say at the top table in how things are run.

Below this fine memory of Carlile on his 90th birthday in 2011, a tribute to Carlile:

Now 94, Forbes Carlile can look back with pride on a life that included roles as graduate physiologist, lecturer at the University of Sydney, pioneer in scientific training and the pace clock, the first swimming author to deal with the concept of tapering, a term originated by Carlile and Professor Frank Cotton.

Inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1976, Carlile was Australia’s first modern pentathlon Olympic competitor (1952) and youngest Olympic coach (1948); Olympic Coach 1956 (Australia), 1964 (Holland). He was an official coach for Auystralia at the inaugural World Championships in 1973 and his career sheet includes nine world record holders, among them one of the all-time greats, Shane Gould. He also organised the Australian Swimming Coaches Association.

His pioneer efforts in sports science included interval workouts (1940s), the pace clock (1946), heart-rate tests (1956), training under stress and T-Wave studies. His book, “Forbes Carlile on Swimming” (1963), was the first modern …

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