1. Beverley Joy Whitfield was an Australian breaststroke swimmer of the 1970s, who won a gold medal in the 200-metre breaststroke at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.
21 Facts About Beverley Whitfield
1. 2.
Beverley Whitfield was coached by Terry Gathercole and Don Talbot.
3.
The daughter of a fitter and turner who worked in the Wollongong steelworks for more than 35 years, Whitfield was taught to swim along with her sister and their cousins at the age four by her maternal uncle, who was active in the local Learn to Swim program.
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Beverley Whitfield showed a preference for the breaststroke from an early age, and would do a breaststroke kick when participating in freestyle activities.
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Beverley Whitfield showed a wider interest in sport while at Shellharbour Public School, playing softball, netball, athletics and even playing cricket against her male classmates.
6.
At the age of nine, Beverley Whitfield competed in the Primary School State Championships at North Sydney Pool, coming second to Kathy Whitlam, who happened to be the daughter of future Prime Minister of Australia Gough Whitlam.
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Beverley Whitfield's improvement was rapid, and in 1968, she won the 100-metre and 200-metre breaststroke in the under-14 division at the State championships before placing second in her age group at the national titles in Hobart.
8.
Beverley Whitfield's improvement saw her place sixth and third in the 100-metre and 200-metrebreaststroke respectively at the US Championships in Louisville, Kentucky.
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Beverley Whitfield relegated England's Dorothy Harrison to silver in setting new Commonwealth records in both races.
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Beverley Whitfield continued her winning run in 1971, taking out the Australian Championships in both breaststroke events, although her times were slower than in Edinburgh.
11.
Beverley Whitfield competed at the International Coca-Cola Meet at Crystal Palace in London, taking the bronze medal in the 200-metre breaststroke behind the Soviet Galina Prozumenshchikova, the world record holder.
12.
Beverley Whitfield gradually improved her times in the lead up to the 1972 Summer Olympics during the Australian training camp in Scarborough, Queensland.
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Beverley Whitfield's final was on the same night as the women's 100-metre freestyle and the men's 200-metre freestyle, in which Shane Gould and Michael Wenden had been anticipated to win.
14.
Beverley Whitfield clawed back a little ground in the next lap but was still far behind at the midpoint of the race.
15.
Beverley Whitfield made her move in the third lap as instructed by Talbot, and began to reel in her opponents, causing a crowd reaction.
16.
Beverley Whitfield was fourth at the 150-metre mark, before moving into third place after the turn at Prozumenshchikova's expense before claiming the lead with 20 metres to go by passing Hungary's Agnes Kaczander and American Dana Schoenfield.
17.
Beverley Whitfield won both breaststroke titles the following year at the Australian Championships in times slower than she had recorded in Munich, but failed to win a medal at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships in Belgrade.
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Beverley Whitfield later worked for a period as a youth worker for the New South Wales Department of Youth and Community Services in Shellharbour and Wollongong.
19.
Beverley Whitfield was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1995.
20.
Beverley Whitfield died suddenly in 1996 at the age of 42.
21.
Beverley Whitfield's strength was her kick, with ergometer tests showing her leg power to be comparable to that of weightlifters.