Cecil Healy

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Olympic medal record
Men’s Swimming
Gold 1912 Stockholm 4x200 m freestyle relay
Silver 1912 Stockholm 100 m freestyle

Cecil Patrick Healy (born November 28, 1881 in Darlinghurst, New South Wales – died August 29, 1918 in Somme, France) was an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1900s and 1910s, who won silver in the 100m freestyle at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. He also won gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay. He was killed in the First World War during the Battle of Somme in an attack on a German trench. Healy was the second swimmer behind Frederick Lane to represent Australia in Swimming and has been allocated the number "2" by Swimming Australia on a list of all Australians who have represented Australia at an Open International Level.

The son of a barrister, Healy was born in Darlinghurst, an inner-city suburb of Sydney, but moved with his family to the rural town of Bowral where he received his primary schooling. He moved to Sydney in 1896, joining the East Sydney Swimming Club, of which Frederick Lane was also a member. Healy was also a member of the Manly Surf Lifesaving Club. In 1904, Healy posted the fastest ever time in the 100yd freestyle, 58s, but there were no official world records at the time. In 1905, his time of 58s in the 110yd freestyle at the Australasian Championships equalled the world record to earn him his first Australasian title. He was a proponent of the new crawl stroke, raising eyebrows among classicists who perceived it to be inelegant. In 1906, Healy was sent to the 1906 Intercalated Olympics, one of only five athletes for whom the necessary funding was allocated. At the Games in Athens, Healy came third in the 100m freestyle behind the United States' Charles Daniel and Hungary's Zoltan Halmay. Halmay and Daniels were the gold and silver medallists respectively at the 1904 Summer Olympics. After the Games, Healy toured Europe, giving many Europeans the first chance to see the crawl stroke; he competed in Hamburg, winning the Kaiser's Cup, and also competed in Belgium, Netherlands and Britain. He won the 220yd British Championships, but was thwarted in the 100yd event by Daniels.

Returning to Australia, Healy missed the Australian season, but in 1908 he won the 110yd freestyle, but was unable to attend the 1908 Summer Olympics due to a lack of funds. In 1909 and 1910, he again successfully defended his Australian championships. In 1911, Healy inflicted the first defeat on Frank Beaurepaire in any race, after beating him in a 440yd race. However, that year, Harold Hardwick claimed Healy's 110yd titles. In 1912, Healy came third in the 110yd, 220yd and 880yd events at the Australasian titles to qualify for the Australasian team at the 1912 Summer Olympics. (At the time, Australia sent a combined team with New Zealand).

At the Stockholm, Healy entered the 100m event with fellow Australian Bill Longworth and American Duke Kahanamoku. All three qualified for the semi-final, with Kahanamoku clearly the quickest. Healy and Longworth then qualified from the first semifinal, but the three Americans, who were scheduled to qualify in the second semi-final did not, due an error by their team management. However, Healy intervened and assisted in an appeal to allow the Americans to swim another special race in order to qualify for the final. Despite protestation from other delegations, the Americans were allowed a separate race, with Kahanamoku qualifying for the final. In the final, Kahanamoku won easily, by 1.2s, over a bodylength, with Healy in second place. Healy's sportsmanship effectively cost him the gold medal. In the 400m freestyle, Healy set a world record in his heat, but this was improved in the semifinals by George Hodgson of Canada and Hardwick, by over ten seconds. Healy finished fourth in the final. In the 4x200m freestyle, he combined with Hardwick, Leslie Boardman and Malcolm Champion to hold off the Kahanamoku-led Americans. After the Games, Healy toured Europe, where he lowered Beaurepaire's 220yd world record by more that three seconds in Scotland, before retiring and returning to Australia.

Healy encouraged the practise of swimming daily for exercise, and was active in lifesaving at Manly beach, winning the Royal Humane Society silver medal for saving numerous surfers. He wrote a booklet, The Crawl Stroke, which had a circulation of 20,000 for free distribution in the United Kingdom.

In September 1915, Healy decided to enlist in the Australian Defence Force, and served as a quartermaster sergeant in Egypt and France. After attending officer training in Cambridge, he became a second lieutenant in June 1918 in the 19th Sportsman's Battalion. He was killed in action on the Somme battlefront.

Healy was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1981.

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  • Andrews, Malcolm (2000). Australia at the Olympic Games. 
  • Howell, Max (1986). Aussie Gold. 


Olympic champions in men's 4x200 m freestyle relay

1908 Great Britain - John Henry Derbyshire, Paul Radmilovic, William Foster, Henry Taylor
1912 Australasia - Cecil Healy, Malcolm Champion, Leslie Boardman, Harold Hardwick
1920 United States - Perry McGilivray, Pua Kela Kealoha, Norman Ross, Duke Kahanamoku
1924 United States - Walter O'Connor, Harry Glancy, Ralph Breyer, Johnny Weissmuller
1928 United States - Austin Clapp, Walter Laufer, George Kojac, Johnny Weissmuller
1932 Japan - Yasuji Miyazaki, Masonori Yusa, Takashi Yomoyama, Hisakichi Toyoda
1936 Japan - Masanori Yusa, Shigeo Suguira, Masaharu Taguchi, Shigeo Arai
1948 United States - Walter Ris, James McLane, Wallace Wolf, William Smith
1952 United States - Wayne Moore, William Woolsey, Ford Konno, James McLane
1956 Australia - Kevin O'Halloran, John Devitt, Murray Rose, Jon Henricks
1960 United States - George Harrison, Richard Blick, Michael Troy, Jeffrey Farrell
1964 United States - Stephen Clark, Roy Saari, Gary Ilman, Don Schollander
1968 United States - John Nelson, Stephen Rerych, Mark Spitz, Don Schollander
1972 United States - John Kinsella, Fred Tyler, Steve Genter, Mark Spitz
1976 United States - Mike Bruner, Bruce Furniss, John Naber, Jim Montgomery
1980 Soviet Union - Sergei Kopliakov, Vladimir Salnikov, Ivar Stukolkin, Andrei Krylov
1984 United States - Michael Heath, David Larson, Jeffrey Float, Bruce Hayes
1988 United States - Troy Dalbey, Matthew Cetlinski, Doug Gjertsen, Matt Biondi
1992 Unified Team - Dmitri Lepikov, Vladimir Pychnenko, Veniamin Taianovich, Yevgeny Sadovyi
1996 United States - Josh Davis, Joe Hudepohl, Bradley Schumacher, Ryan Berube
2000 Australia - Ian Thorpe, Michael Klim, Todd Pearson, Bill Kirby
2004 United States - Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Peter Vanderkaay, Klete Keller

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