Don Talbot coached national teams for Canada, the United States and Australia.
21 Facts About Don Talbot
1.
2.
Don Talbot's parents were both of English descent; his father, Arthur Talbot, was from a family of coal miners from Yorkshire, and started work on the mines in Newcastle when he arrived with his brothers and sisters in Australia in 1914.
3.
When Don Talbot was three his father had a mining accident that ended his career, and subsequently moved the family to the Sydney suburb of Bankstown.
4.
Don Talbot began working in a garage adjoining the family home, and worked as a toolmaker in the Sydney CBD during World War II.
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Don Talbot won the New South Wales Under 14 backstroke championship and broke the New South Wales Under 14 record for the 165-yard individual medley.
6.
Don Talbot attended Bankstown Primary School, Bankstown Technical School and Homebush Boys High School.
7.
Don Talbot failed his high school leaving certificate, but took a scholarship at Wagga Wagga Teacher's College.
8.
Don Talbot was a young teacher when he started coaching in 1956.
9.
In 1964, Don Talbot went to the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games as the Australian men's swimming coach, a position he held until 1972.
10.
Don Talbot then moved to Canada due to the lack of funding for swimming in Australia.
11.
Don Talbot worked as head coach for both the Thunder Bay Thunderbolts Swim Club and the Canadian national swimming team.
12.
Don Talbot then spent two years coaching the United States team for the 1980 Moscow Olympics before the US boycotted the games.
13.
Don Talbot departed in 1983 to return to Canada .
14.
Don Talbot was the national head coach for Swimming Canada during its greatest period of success in the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics, and some have credited Talbot with its success.
15.
Don Talbot was dismissed by the Canadian Olympic Committee some months before the 1988 games after demanding more rigid qualification standards and was replaced by Dave Johnson.
16.
In 1989, Don Talbot took the position of National Head Coach at Australian Swimming.
17.
At the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, Don Talbot's coaching tenure resulted in Australia producing its best swimming performance since the 1972 Munich Olympics.
18.
Don Talbot retired as Australia's head coach after Australia topped the swimming gold medal tally at the 2001 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka.
19.
Don Talbot was an outspoken critic of the use of steroids in swimming, notably during an incident during the 1998 World Aquatics Championships when Chinese swimmer Yuan Yuan was expelled from the competition.
20.
The only child from that marriage, Scott Don Talbot, is an Olympic swimmer and coach.
21.
Don Talbot died on 3 November 2020 on the Gold Coast at the age of 87 after complications from dementia.