Don Talbot

Not to be confused with Don Talbot, author of books about the history of Toowoomba, Queensland.

Don Talbot (born 23 August 1934) OBE^[1] is an Olympic swimming coach from Australia. He has coached national teams for Canada and Australia.^[2]

Coaching career

Canada

Since the 1950s Talbot has coached Olympic champions and World Record holders for a thirty year period. The list of his students include John and Ilsa Konrads, Ian O'Brien, Bob Windle, Kevin Berry, Beverley Whitfield, Gail Neall, Mark Tewksbury, Alex Baumann, Tracy Caulkins and Ian Thorpe.

He was the national head coach for Swimming Canada during its greatest period of success in the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics, and some have credited Talbot with its success.^[3] He was dismissed by the Canadian Olympic Committee in 1988 after demanding more rigid qualification standards and was replaced by Dave Johnson.^[3]

Australia

In 1989, Talbot took the position of National Head Coach at Australian Swimming. He was an outspoken critic of the use of steroids in swimming, notably during an incident during the 1998 World Aquatics Championships which resulted in the expulsion of a Chinese athlete from the competition.^[4] He retired as Australia's head coach after Australia topped the swimming gold medal tally at the 2001 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka.^[5]

References

1. ^ "Queen's Birthday honour for swim coach Talbot". ABC. 11 June 2007. http://www.abc.net.au/news/australia/qld/goldc/200706/s1947625.htm. Retrieved 2 September 2009. 
2. ^ "Learn to swim with swimming Lessons at Swim Australia Swim School". 2008-04-21. http://www.swimaustralia.org.au/dsp_content.cfm?CAT_ID=43&CAT_PARENT=10. Retrieved 2008-05-07. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Canada's swim program treading water too long". Toronto Sun. 4 September 2004. http://www.sunmedia.ca/2000GamesSwimming/sep4_can.html. Retrieved 2 September 2009. 
4. ^ "Inquiry dives into drug abuse in swimming". BBC. 10 January 1998. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sport/46310.stm. Retrieved 2 September 2009. 
5. ^ Short, Paul (4 September 2001). "Records tumble as US pile up the points". London: The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/records-tumble-as-us-pile-up-the-points-667942.html. Retrieved 2 September 2009. 

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Name	Talbot, Don
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Date of birth	23 August 1934
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