Ben Gathercole

Gathercole’s performances in the 1650 yards freestyle and 400 IM earned him a place on the men's All-American Swimming and Diving Team of the NJCAA for 1985.

Gathercole is the son of Olympic swimming medallist, coach and administrator Terry Gathercole AM (1935–2001) and Carol Gathercole (nee Fraser, 1938–) a swim teacher and one of only two women inducted into the Australian Swimming Hall of Fame.

Gathercole has an older sister, Gai, and a younger brother, Tim.

Ben Gathercole (born 1965) is an Australian high-performance triathlon coach, sports manager and author.

Gathercole was born in Sydney, New South Wales in 1965 and spent his early years in Texas, U.S. where his father had been invited to set up a swimming team by the City of Midland.

The family returned to Killarney Heights, a suburb of Sydney, in 1973.

Gathercole was an age group club champion and record-holder, and qualified for Metropolitan, State and National titles, but fell short in his attempt to qualify for the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games.

Gathercole attended Killarney Heights Public School and Killarney Heights High School, graduating Year 12 in 1984.

He returned to the U.S. after winning a swimming scholarship to study at Indian River State College, Florida and later transferred to Florida State University, where he studied to be a physical education teacher.

In February 1984 while studying for his Higher School Certificate (HSC) Gathercole competed in the 200m and 400m IM in the Australian titles and Los Angeles Olympics selection events at Brisbane's Chandler Aquatic Centre.

Gathercole was awarded a swimming scholarship to Indian River State College in Florida, U.S. commencing in 1985.

He was part of the championship-winning team at the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) titles that year, where he won the 400 IM and swam in the winning medley relay team.

Indian River again took out the NJCAA championship in 1986, helped by Gathercole’s wins in the 1650 yards freestyle and 400 IM.

After returning from the U.S. at the end of 1987, Gathercole swam under legendary coach Bill Sweetenham at the Australian Institute of Sport in the lead up to the trials for the 1988 Olympic Games, but missed out on qualifying.

Gathercole returned to Australia in 1988 to train at the AIS in the lead up to the Seoul Olympics.

Gathercole retired from competitive swimming in 1989 and moved to Sydney having been recruited by Knox Grammar School to join the staff as a physical education teacher, swimming coach and boarding tutor.

He returned to Canberra two years later to run the family business, an indoor pool and fitness centre in Woden in Canberra’s south.

After entering his first triathlon, he recognised the lack of coaches in the sport and started coaching, building up a stable of athletes which would become the Tridents Triathlon Club.

Over two decades Gathercole coached and managed Tridents to become one of the top clubs in Australia with its high-performance framework, structures and methodologies.

The club became nationally-renowned for its support of fellow competitors and the 'yellow army' was a regular sight at events across the country, taking team spirit to a whole new plane and setting the benchmark for club organisation and achievement.

Gathercole took up triathlon as a challenge from a mate, entering his first event in Forster, New South Wales in 1991 – the Ironman Triathlon (4.8 km swim/180 km cycle/42.2 km run) – which he completed in 10 hours 55 minutes and 40 seconds.

Gathercole received his formal triathlon coaching accreditation in 1993, and completed the highest level - High-Performance Coach - in 2002.

The following year he completed the event in 11:24:54, and in 1994 he finished in 11:10:03.

Gathercole's stable of athletes over more than two decades has also included Michelle Dillon (who raced for Great Britain in the Sydney 2000 Olympics and Athens 2004 Olympics), Michelle Wu (Australia) World Champion in 2008 and Oceania Duathlon Champion in 2007, Kat Baker (Australia) World Champion in 2005 and 2006, World Champion (2015, 2016) and 2018 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Bec Wiasak (Australia), five-time Australian Capital Territory Triathlete of the Year (1996-2001) Raeleigh Tennant, two-time ACT Triathlete of the Year (1993, 1995) Alison Coote, and American professional endurance athlete, motivational speaker and adventurer Colin O'Brady.

After leaving his role at Triathlon Australia, Gathercole set up a private coaching business, BG Performance Coaching Cooperative.

He is married to Caroline (nee Menzell, married 2001) and they have a daughter, Georgia born in 2004.

They live in Canberra, Australia.

A long-distance specialist, Gathercole's events included 400 metres individual medley (IM), 800 metres freestyle and 1500 metres freestyle.

With both parents working in swimming and owning their own pool at Killarney Heights in Sydney's northern suburbs, all three Gathercole children swam for the Killarney Swimming Club and later the WIN Swim Club.

This culminated in Tridents becoming Australian Club Champions in 2002 and winning numerous Australian Capital Territory Club Championships.

Gathercole has played a long-term role in the development of triathlon in the South Pacific, initially coaching Serena Francis (Cook Islands) to the 2002 Commonwealth Games and later running training camps for the International Triathlon Union.

Gathercole followed in his father’s footsteps to become an Olympic and Commonwealth Games coach after his athlete Simon Thompson qualified for the Australian team for the 2004 Athens Olympics (placing 10th after falling twice on the cycle leg) and the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, where he finished 11th having agreed to play a team role for Australia to support the eventual Gold and Bronze Medal winners Brad Kahlefeldt and Peter Robertson.

He took time out from frontline coaching to manage the ACT Brumbies Super Rugby team (2014–2016) and run the Triathlon Australia High-Performance Program (2016–2017).

In 2014, Gathercole stepped away from triathlon and joined the ACT Brumbies Super Rugby franchise as team director after an invitation from head coach Stephen Larkham to be in charge of the team’s off-field operations.

Larkham engaged Gathercole because he was looking for fresh eyes from a performance background rather than just rugby.

Hiring Gathercole was part of Larkham’s strategy to drive organisational change within the franchise which had been suffering dwindling crowds and public criticism.

Gathercole was involved in all aspects of the Super Rugby side’s operational activities including junior development from 2014 until the end of the 2016 season.

His off-field contribution to the team’s performance culminated in the Brumbies being named 2016 Super Rugby Team of the Year at the annual John Eales Medal Awards.

In 2018, he was appointed as Spirit University Director and has delivered online coaching modules for the University.

In 2020, he was appointed Head of Speakers for the World Endurance Coach Business Summit – Coach 2020 Vision.