Beverley Whitfield
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Beverley Joy Whitfield (15 June 1954 – 20 August 1996) was an Australian
breaststroke Breaststroke is a human swimming, swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and ...
swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...
of the 1970s, who won a gold medal in the 200-metre breaststroke at the
1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...
in Munich. She was coached by
Terry Gathercole Terrence Stephen Gathercole (25 November 1935 – 30 May 2001), was an Australian breaststroke swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won a silver medal in the 4x100-metre medley relay at the 1960 Summer Olympics. He later became a swimming co ...
and
Don Talbot Donald Malcolm Talbot (23 August 19333 November 2020) was an Australian Olympic swimming coach and sport administrator. He coached national teams for Canada, the United States and Australia. Early life Talbot was born on 23 August 1933 as t ...
.


Biography

The daughter of a fitter and turner who worked in the
Wollongong Wollongong ( ; Dharawal: ''Woolyungah'') is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near water' or 'sound ...
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. Along with her sister and cousins, she was a childhood member of the Shellharbour Swimming Club, and was mainly taken to local swimming competitions by her father and uncle. This became even more pronounced following the death of her mother from
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
. Whitfield showed a preference for the
breaststroke Breaststroke is a human swimming, swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and ...
from an early age, and would do a breaststroke kick when participating in freestyle activities. She showed a wider interest in sport while at Shellharbour Public School, playing
softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...
,
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,
athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...
and even playing
cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
against her male classmates. However, this ended as she approached the end of her primary school years, with swimming coming to the fore. At the age of nine, 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 The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister is the chair of the Cabinet of Australia and thus the head of the Australian Government, federal executive government. Under the pr ...
Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from December 1972 to November 1975. To date the longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), he was notable for being ...
. It was at the age of ten that Whitfield witnessed Australia's
Dawn Fraser Dawn Fraser (born 4 September 1937) is an Australian freestyle champion swimmer, eight-time olympic medallist, a 15-year world record holder in the 100-metre freestyle, and former politician. Controversial, yet the winner of countless honours, ...
win her third consecutive 100-metre freestyle Olympic gold medal at the
1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...
, becoming the first Olympian to win an individual event three times consecutively, that forged her resolve to become an Olympian. At the age of 11, her uncle decided to send her to Sydney every weekend to receive training from
Terry Gathercole Terrence Stephen Gathercole (25 November 1935 – 30 May 2001), was an Australian breaststroke swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won a silver medal in the 4x100-metre medley relay at the 1960 Summer Olympics. He later became a swimming co ...
, an Olympic medal-winning breaststroker who was regarded as Australia's foremost breaststroke coach. This involved long daytrips for her family to help her fulfill her dream, usually starting before daybreak. During school holidays, she boarded with Gathercole to train under him on a daily basis. In her first year under Gathercole, she finished third in the 100-metre breaststroke in her age group at the New South Wales Championships. Her 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. This her progress to the open Australian Championships, which were the selection trials for the Olympics team. At the age of 14, she narrowly missed selection for the
1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...
in Mexico City, after finishing sixth and fourth in the 100-metre and 200-metre breaststroke respectively in the trials. In 1969, Gathercole was appointed as a swimming coach in
Midland, Texas Midland is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Midland County with small portions extending into Martin County. The population was 132,524 as of the 2020 census. Located in the Permian Basin in West Texas, Midland is a ...
, forcing Whitfield's father to raise funds for her to travel to Texas and board with his family to continue her training for six months, where she sharpened her racing skills with more frequent racing in the more competitive American scene. Her improvement saw her place sixth and third in the 100-metre and 200-metrebreaststroke respectively at the US Championships in Louisville, Kentucky. On her return to Australia in November 1969, Gathercole arranged for her to train under
Don Talbot Donald Malcolm Talbot (23 August 19333 November 2020) was an Australian Olympic swimming coach and sport administrator. He coached national teams for Canada, the United States and Australia. Early life Talbot was born on 23 August 1933 as t ...
. Whitfield found Talbot to be a hard-pushing coach: "I both hated and loved him. Terry Gathercole and Don Talbot had two different approaches. With Don I had to do all the strokes, the same number of repetitions and the same as everyone else was doing. I was exhausted." Whitfield proceeded to win both breaststroke titles at the 1970 Australian Championships in times of 1 m 18.5 s and 2 m 48 s respectively. She then toured South Africa with the national team before repeating the victories at the
1970 Commonwealth Games The 1970 British Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 16 to 25 July 1970. This was the first time the name British Commonwealth Games was adopted, the first time metric units rather than imperial units were used in all eve ...
in Edinburgh in times of 1 m 17.4 s and 2 m 44.2 s respectively. She relegated England's Dorothy Harrison to silver in setting new Commonwealth records in both races. She added a third gold medal in the 4×100-metre medley relay, combining with Lynne Watson, Alyson Mabb and Denise Langford in 4 m 30.66 s. Whitfield continued her winning run in 1971, taking out the Australian Championships in both breaststroke events, although her times were slower than in Edinburgh. A third victory came with the New South Wales team in the medley relay. She competed at the International Coca-Cola Meet at
Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...
in London, taking the bronze medal in the 200-metre breaststroke behind the Soviet Galina Prozumenshchikova, the world record holder. Late in 1971, Whitfields' rival Harrison came to Australia on a Churchill Fellowship and trained alongside her with Talbot. At the 1972 Australian Championships, Harrison took both the 100-metre and 200-metre breaststroke titles from Whitfield. Whitfield gradually improved her times in the lead up to the
1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...
during the Australian training camp in Scarborough, Queensland. Coming into the Olympics, she was not regarded as a favourite, with her best times being substantially slower than other swimmers. Whitfield's best time in the 100-metre breaststroke was only 1 m 18 s, but she repeatedly lowered this throughout the competition, coming third in her heat in a time of 1 m 17.59 s to scrape into the semi-final. She then posted a time of 1 m 16.3 s, again placing third and again scraping into the final. She again substantially improved her time in the final, claiming bronze in a time of 1 m 15.73 s behind Cathy Carr of the United States. In the 200-metre breaststroke, she came second in her heat to Prozumenshchikova in a time of 2 m 44.5 s, making her the sixth fastest qualifier for the final, placing her in lane seven. Talbot told her to stay calm if Prozumenshchikova made an early attack, telling Whitfield that the third lap was the critical part of the race. The Australian public were not expecting much of Whitfield. Her final was on the same night as the women's 100-metre freestyle and the men's 200-metre freestyle, in which
Shane Gould Shane Elizabeth Gould (born 23 November 1956) is an Australian former competition swimmer. She won three gold medals, a silver medal and a bronze, at the 1972 Summer Olympics, becoming the first woman swimmer to win five individual medals. In 2 ...
and
Michael Wenden Michael Vincent Wenden, (born 17 November 1949) is a champion swimmer who represented Australia in the 1968 Summer Olympics and 1972 Summer Olympics. In 1968 he won four medals: gold in both the 100- and 200-metre freestyle (setting world reco ...
had been anticipated to win. After the first lap of the race, Whitfield seemed unlikely to deliver an upset victory, turning through the 50-metre mark in last place. She clawed back a little ground in the next lap but was still far behind at the midpoint of the race. She made her move in the third lap as instructed by Talbot, and began to reel in her opponents, causing a crowd reaction. She 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
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's Ágnes Kaczander and American Dana Schoenfield. Her time of 2m 41.71s was 2.5 s faster than her previous best, holding off a final ditch attack from Schoenfield. The 4×100-metre medley relay was an anti-climax as the Australians swam poorly and came fifth in their heat and failed to qualify for the final. On her arrival in her home town, she was accorded a street parade. This was Whitfield's career peak. She 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 The 1st FINA World Championships in Aquatics were held in the Tašmajdan SRC in Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia, from 31 August to 9 September 1973. Medal table Results Diving ;Men ;Women Swimming ;Men ;Women Synchronised s ...
in Belgrade. Again in 1974, she won both events at the national championships in even slower times, but managed only a bronze in the 200-metre event in a time of 2 m 43.58 s and a silver in the medley relay. In 1975, she lost both of her national titles, and subsequently retired, admitting that she had lost her drive to compete. She later worked for a period as a youth worker for the New South Wales Department of Youth and Community Services in Shellharbour and Wollongong. In 1994 the Beverley Whitfield Pool in Shellharbour was named in her honour. Whitfield was inducted into the
International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the stu ...
in 1995. She died suddenly in 1996 at the age of 42. Whitfield's strength was her kick, with ergometer tests showing her leg power to be comparable to that of weightlifters.


See also

*
List of members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame is a history museum and hall of fame, serving as the central point for the study of the history of swimming in the United States and around the world. List of the members of the International Swimming Hall ...
*
List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women) This is the complete list of women's Olympic medalists in swimming. Women's events 50 metre freestyle 100 metre freestyle 200 metre freestyle 400 metre freestyle 800 metre freestyle 1500 metre freestyle 100 metre backstroke 200 ...


References


Further reading

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External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitfield, Beverley 1954 births 1996 deaths Sportspeople from Wollongong Sportswomen from New South Wales Australian female breaststroke swimmers Olympic swimmers for Australia Swimmers at the 1972 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Australia Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Olympic gold medalists in swimming Olympic bronze medalists in swimming Swimmers at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games gold medallists in swimming Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games silver medallists in swimming Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Medallists at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games 20th-century Australian sportswomen