13 Facts About Terry Gathercole

Terry Gathercole later became a swimming coach, at one stage being the Australian female team coach for the 1964 Summer Olympics and guiding numerous breaststroke students to Olympic and World Championship gold medals.

Terry Gathercole grew up in West Wyalong, New South Wales where he lived throughout his school years.

Terry Gathercole died in 2001 because of heart problems, an illness which he had carried for 15 years after requiring open-heart surgery.

Terry Gathercole first came to prominence in the 1954 Australian Championships, when he won the first of his ten Australian Championships.

Terry Gathercole made his international debut at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, contesting the 200-metre breaststroke, at the first Olympics in which the butterfly stroke was separated from breaststroke swimming.

Terry Gathercole finished fourth in the final, just 0.1 of a second behind the bronze medalist Charis Yunichev of the Soviet Union.

Terry Gathercole was coached by Forbes Carlile after moving to Sydney.

Terry Gathercole reached the peak of his swimming career in 1958 when he set the world record for the 200-metre breaststroke at the Tobruk Pool in Townsville, Queensland.

Terry Gathercole held this world record for over three years.

Terry Gathercole had at various times in his career held the world record in the 200-metre, and national records in the 110- and 220-yard breaststroke.

Terry Gathercole then became a coach, beginning as an assistant to Forbes Carlile.

In 1986, Terry Gathercole was appointed as a Senior Coach with the Australian Institute of Sport's swimming program.

Terry Gathercole served as a coach for the national team for 28 years until his retirement in 1992.