Don Talbot

Donald Malcolm Talbot (23 August 19333 November 2020) was an Australian Olympic swimming coach and sport administrator.

He coached national teams for Canada, the United States and Australia.

Early life Talbot was born on 23 August 1933 as the second of six children in the New South Wales township of Barnsley near Newcastle. His parents were both of English descent; his father, Arthur Talbot, was from a family of coal miners from Yorkshire, and started work on the mines in Newcastle when he arrived with his brothers and sisters in Australia in 1914. His mother, Elsie Francis Channel, emigrated from England to Australia in 1909.

He later took up competitive swimming under the wing of leading coach Frank Guthrie who waived his customary fee of £1 per week because Talbot's parents could not afford it. He attended Bankstown Primary School, Bankstown Technical School and Homebush Boys High School. He failed his high school leaving certificate, but took a scholarship at Wagga Wagga Teacher's College. While in Canada, he studied for a Bachelor and Master of Psychology at Lakehead University. He then spent two years coaching the United States team for the 1980 Moscow Olympics before the US boycotted the games. He departed in 1983 to return to Canada once again.

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. He was dismissed by the Canadian Olympic Committee some months before the 1988 games after demanding more rigid qualification standards and was replaced by Dave Johnson.

He was an outspoken critic of the use of steroids in swimming, notably during an incident during the 1998 World Aquatics Championships when Chinese swimmer Yuan Yuan was expelled from the competition.

Personal life Talbot was married three times. His first marriage, which lasted for 22 years, was to Shirley Spindler, whom he met and married as a teenager in Wagga Wagga. They had three daughters and a son, Christine, Leonie, Jon and Lee. From 1973 to 1989, he was married to Janice Murphy (later Jan Cameron), who worked closely with Talbot in both her swimming and coaching careers until the end of their relationship. The only child from that marriage, Scott Talbot, is an Olympic swimmer and coach.

In 2003, Talbot published a memoir on his career – Talbot : nothing but the best with Kevin Berry and Ian Heads.

Talbot died on 3 November 2020 on the Gold Coast at the age of 87 after complications from dementia.

Recognition

1979 – Inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame 1981 – Officer of the Order of the British Empire 1990 – Inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame as a General Member. 1995 – Australian Swimming Coaches and Teachers Association (ASCTA) – Life Member 2001 – Centenary Medal 2004 – Life Member Swimming Australia 2007 – Officer of the Order of Australia