Trail-blazing Australian swimming coach Ursula Carlile, who coached golden girl Shane Gould to Olympic glory, has died, aged 86.
The wife and business partner of Forbes Carlile, also a renowned coach, Ursula was the first woman to be head coach of the Australian swimming team.
She oversaw the swimmers at both the 1974 Commonwealth Games and the 1975 world championships while she also spent time with the Dutch Olympic team in 1964 and coached in China, which resulted in a three-year ban by Australian swimming.
At the 1972 Olympics in Munich Gould won five medals including three gold while setting three world records.
Sharing a passion for the science behind sport with her husband, Carlile also coached Gail Neall to a gold medal and new world mark in the 400 IM at the same Games.
While she had spent many hours working with Gould at a Sydney pool, Carlile shared credit for the teenager's success with Forbes.
“That really was an incredible time. Shane was just so good, but I did feel Forbes deserved more of the credit,” Ursula said in an interview last year.
“I was working with her, but as much as anything, I was giving her the programs that Forbes had developed.”
Ursula and Forbes became the only husband and wife coaching duo to be inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
Meeting Forbes after he taught her to swim as part of her physical education degree, the pair later set up a successful swimming school in Sydney.
They built the first indoor learn to swim centre, with the business expanding to 10 pools.
Her passing comes nine years after her husband, who died during the 2016 Rio Olympics.
