Gregory's Story
1951 – 2014
Greg Brough competed at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games in Swimming, winning a bronze medal in the 1500m as well as placing fourth in the 400m.
Brough was very proud to have come from the Gold Coast, and was in fact their first Olympic medallist.
Brough first swam under the tutelage of his father Neville, in the 25m pool of their Mermaid Beach motel. He took up swimming as physiotherapy for Golden Staph Pneumonia which he contracted at the age of seven.
Brough was soon posting competitive times at club night at the Southport Pool and in the next five years was beatig everyone in the area. When he was 12 years old, he started travelling to Sydney in school holidays to train under Frank Guthrie, coach of Lorraine Crapp.
In 1966, needing a more challenging training environment, Brough started training under Don Talbot in Sydney. He realised his dream of competing in the Olympics just two years later when he made the Mexico City Team.
Brough continued to swim after the Games, competing in the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh where he recorded the opposite results of his Olympic campaign - third in the 400m and fourth in the 1500m.
He won 19 Queensland Championships and five national gold medals setting one Australian and 30 state records along the way. He also achieved Queensland and Australian surf lifesaving titles over his illustrious career.
He passed away at the age of 62 at home after a long battle with cancer.
