Ian O'Brien

Ian Lovett O'Brien (born 3 March 1947) is an Australian breaststroke swimmer of the 1960s who won the 200 metre breaststroke at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in world record time.

He won five Commonwealth Games gold medals and claimed a total of nine individual and six relay titles at the Australian Championships, before retiring at the age of 21 due to financial pressures.

After showing promise at an early age, O'Brien was sent to Sydney to train under renowned coach Forbes Carlile and his breaststroke assistant Terry Gathercole.

In 1954, a chlorinated pool was built in the town, leading to the formation of Wellington Swimming Club.

At the age of 10, O'Brien began competitive swimming under local coach Bert Eslick, and raced in regional country swimming carnivals at Dubbo, Bathurst and Orange.

After winning all the breaststroke events at the country championships, O'Brien was taken by his father to the Ryde pool in Sydney in 1960, to be coached by Forbes Carlile and his assistant, retired world record-breaking breaststroker Terry Gathercole.

Carlile was regarded as the leading swimming coach in Australia at the time.

At age 13, O'Brien was already a large teenager, weighing in at 82.6 kg. He only trained with Gathercole during holidays, when his father could take him to Sydney; Jim Wilkins, a Catholic priest in Bathurst, supervised him according to Gathercole's program while he was in the countryside.

Within a year, O'Brien rose from being a country carnival champion to a national-level athlete, despite the death of his father in the same year.

He competed in his first national championships in 1962 at the age of 15, winning the 220 yard breaststroke to gain selection for the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, where he won both the 110 and 220 yd breaststroke and the 4 × 110 yd medley relay.

In 1962, O'Brien gained selection for the Australian swimming team at the age of 15 when he won the 220 yard (yd) breaststroke at his first Australian Championships in the time of 2 minutes (min) 41.8 seconds (s).

He added a second gold as part of the New South Wales team that won the 4 × 100 m medley relay in a time of 4 min 18.3 s. His performances gained him selection for the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth.

At his first international competition, he won gold in each of his three events.

He competed in the 110 yd and 220 yd breaststroke, defeating fellow Australian William Burton in both events with times of 1 min 11.4s and 2 min 38.1 s, respectively.

He then completed his campaign with a victory in the 4 × 110 yd medley relay, combining with Julian Carroll, Kevin Berry and David Dickson to complete the race in a time of 4 min 12.4 s.

He won both breaststroke events at the 1963 Australian Championships, repeating the feat for the next three years.

In 1963, O'Brien captured the breaststroke double at the Australian Championships, setting personal bests in both events, and was a member of the New South Wales team that won the medley relay.

His performances earned him selection for an overseas tour to Europe with the Australian team, competing in the Soviet Union, Germany and England before visiting Japan and Hong Kong.

In 1964, O'Brien went to the Tokyo Olympics and came from third at the 150 m mark to win the gold medal.

He added a bronze in the medley relay.

O'Brien defended his breaststroke double at the 1964 Australian Championships, lowering his times to 1 min 8.1 s and 2 min 32.6 s for the 100 metres (m) and 200 m breaststroke respectively.

He capped off his campaign as well as a third consecutive medley relay triumph for New South Wales.

Within a year, he had reduced his times in the two events by more than 3%.

As O'Brien was widely regarded as Australia's best breaststroker, he was selected for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

O'Brien joined the rest of the team for the national camp before the Olympics in Ayr in northern Queensland, where he trained under head coach Don Talbot.

O'Brien described Talbot as a "slavedriver", but felt that the experience was invaluable.

Arriving in Tokyo, O'Brien was nominated in the 200 m event and the medley relay; the 100 m event was yet to be included in the Olympic program.

The favourites for the 200 m breaststroke were Chet Jastremski of the United States—the world record holder—and Georgy Prokopenko of the Soviet Union.

Gathercole had modelled O'Brien's technique on that of Jastremski, attempting to refine and smoothen it.

Years after O'Brien retired, Harry Gallagher said that "Ian O'Brien has an almost faultless style and is a great example for Australian youngsters to copy".

O'Brien successfully defended both his breaststroke titles at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica before retiring to support his family.

Swimming officials persuaded him to make a comeback for the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, as Australia did not have a breaststroker, and after a crash diet, he finished sixth in the 100 m event but failed to reach the final in the 200 m event.

He then retired and went into the television industry.

O'Brien grew up in the rural town of Wellington, 360 kilometres (225 miles) from Sydney.

Neither of his parents were skilled swimmers.

His father Roy knew only one swimming stroke—the breaststroke—and his mother Thelma did not take her first swimming lesson until she was 55.

O'Brien's sister Ann was a talented swimmer in her childhood years, but she preferred horseback riding.

The local pool was an old-style facility that had no pump system and was only manually drained once a week.

Aged four, O'Brien got his first swimming lessons from the local Learn to Swim program.

There were not many non-sporting activities for children in Wellington, and O'Brien played basketball and rugby league, did athletics and swimming, and rode horses.