At times I hated my swim coach Forbes Carlile. Like generations of Sydney swimmers he and his wife Ursula taught me to swim in the backyard of their Ryde home. One whiff of a heated, chlorinated pool today takes me immediately back to his indoor pool where he taught legions of us tadpoles, dolphins and turtles to master our strokes. Many more young Australians who've been taught to swim at Carlile swim centres across NSW and Victoria, will mourn the 95-year-old giant of swimming who has died just days before one of his favourite events: watching Australians swim at the Olympics.
