VALE: Legendary NSW swim coach and sport scientist Forbes Carlile

Earlier today, Australian Swimming legend Forbes Carlile MBE passed away at age 95.

Carlile was a legendary figure in NSW, Australian and global sporting circles, particularly in swimming and sports science where he was one of world sport’s great innovators through over many decades during the 1940’s-1980’s.

Australia’s first post-World War II Olympics swimming coach in 1948, Carlile 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.

(Image supplied by Carlile Swimming)