Australian swimming has lost one of its greatest coaches with the death
overnight of master coach John Carew, aged 81. The man who guided Kieren Perkins to two Olympic gold medals died
peacefully in his Brisbane home after a long illness.



Swimming Australia president and life-long friend, David Urquhart
described Carew as a pioneer in all forms of coaching.

"John's passing is a huge loss ... he will be remembered as nature's
gentleman ... a great Australian," said Urquhart.

"He was a pioneer in all forms of coaching, from learn-to-swim to elite
level and fully deserved of the title as a master coach."

The man who he tailor-made to become "King of the Pool" – dual Olympic
gold medallist Perkins was on hand recently to accept Carew's induction
into the Sporting Hall of Fame.



Perkins spoke glowingly of the man he still calls "Mr Carew", as a mark
of respect to the coach who took him from the wading pool at the age of
nine to Olympic champion in 10 years.

The partnership of Carew and Perkins chalked up two Olympic gold and two
silver, two world championship titles, three Commonwealth Games gold,
three Pan Pacific gold and eight world records.

Perkins was glowing in his praise for the man who prowled the pool deck
morning, noon and night.

"Everything I achieved I owe to Mr Carew," said Perkins.

Perkins was the dominant force in distance swimming in the 1990s, winning the 1992 and 1996 Olympic 1,500m freestyle titles and claiming the 400m and 1,500m world crowns in 1994, the year in which he produced one of the most outstanding swims in history. 

At the Commonwealth Games in Victoria, the then 21-year-old from Brisbane swam through a timewarp on his way to becoming the first person since 1976 to break two world records in one race. He had been told by his Mr Carew to keep something in reserve: the World Championships were just two weeks away in Rome. But the swimmer “saw all the Aussies clapping and waving” and could not contain himself. The standing ovation started at 800 metres, which Perkins passed in a world record of 7min 46.00sec, and turned into a wall of thunderous applause as he stopped the clock at 14min 41.66sec, 1.82sec inside the time in which he had claimed the Olympic crown in 1992, a time that was considered unassailable.

Each 100-metre split averaged out at 58.6sec, exactly the time that Johnny Weissmuller set to take the world 100m freestyle record below one minute for the first time in 1922. But Perkins pointed out that such a breakdown masked the fastest-ever start, 54.81sec, and finish, 57.22sec. Perkins reached 200 metres in the time it took Mark Spitz to win the Olympic title at that distance in 1972, while 200 metres later his pace was almost as fast as that needed by Vladimir Salnikov to set the world 400m record and swim below 3min 50sec for the first time 12 years before. That effort in Victoria would sit on the record books for seven years until Grant Hackett, the teammate who stopped Perkins from winning what would have been an historic and pioneering third successive Olympic crown (no man has ever done that) at Sydney 2000.

When Perkins emerged from the 1,500m race against time in Victoria, Carew's reaction to the greatest 1,500m swim we'd ever seen was: "Why d'ya do that mate?" He had had a plan for his charge - and was none too pleased that what had unfolded might affect the bigger things he had had in mind for Rome. The respect between swimmer and charge was and remains a model for excellence. The success and experience of the swimmer never reached a point at which the coaching role was diminished.