Terence's Story
1935 – 2001
Terry Gathercole competed at Melbourne 1956 where he finished fourth in the 200 metres breastroke behind the winner, Furukawa of Japan. By Rome 1960, he was the world record holder in the event and finished sixth behind the gold medallist, Bill Mulliken of the United States. Gathercole teamed with David Theile, Neville Hayes and Geoff Shipton to come in behind the Americans in the inaugural staging of the men's 4 x 100 metres medley relay.
At the 1958 Cardiff British Empire and Commonwealth Games, he won gold medals on the 220 yards breaststroke and the 4 x 110 yards medley relay. After retiring from competitive swimming, Gathercole became a successful administrator and coach, including to Olympic breaststroke gold medallists, Ian O’Brien (Tokyo 1964) and Beverly Whitfield (Munich 1972) and to Australian teams at the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and World Championships. In 1985 he was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame and in the 1988 Queen’s Birthday awards was made a member of the order of Australia (AM) ‘for services to swimming’.
