Winram went on to carve a successful career as one of the Australian swimming\u2019 s most respected Olympic, Commonwealth Games and World Championship level coaches.<\/p>\n
![\"Gary](\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Gary-Winram-Olympedia--391x500.jpg\")
POOL STAR: Gary Winram was a dual international in pool and surf. Photo Courtesy: Olympedia.<\/p><\/div>\n
Survived by his loyal and loving wife Jan, Winram had been presented with his prestigious Platinum Level Coaching Award in 2020 for his achievements with dual Olympian Elli Overton.<\/strong><\/p>\n His Melbourne Olympic Games team mate Dawn Fraser<\/strong> had the unenviable task of informing members of that successful 1956 swim team that their popular team mate had passed away, describing him as one of Australian swimming and Australian surf lifesaving\u2019s unsung and humblest of heroes.<\/p>\n \u201cGary was a humble champion in both pool and surf and a wonderful coach, respected by his athletes and his peers \u2013 not only a team mate of mine but a life long friend,\u201d said Fraser, who comforted wife Jan in the day\u2019s before and after Gary\u2019s passing.<\/p>\n \u201cI had spoken to Gary on my return last week from the Australian Swimming Championships in Adelaide and he was just so thrilled to hear about the record breaking feats of Ariarne Titmus<\/strong> and Zac Stubblety-Cook.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cHe was a man who just loved swimming \u2013 someone who made a difference to his athletes and the coaches he has mentored.\u201d<\/p>\n Winram had a distinguished career as a swimmer \u2013 combining his talents as a record-breaking middle distance and distance freestyler alongside the likes of Murray Rose, John Konrads<\/strong> and Jon Donohoe <\/strong>with his extraordinary feats in the pool and surf with North Bondi SLSC.<\/p>\n He smashed two Australian records in winning the NSW 1650 yards championship at North Sydney in 1955 \u2013 also breaking the 1500m record as well.<\/p>\n NORTH BONDI LIFESAVER: Gary Winram revelled in the surf. Photo Courtesy: North Bondi SLSC.<\/p><\/div>\n Later that year at the Australian Championships in Adelaide, one of Australia\u2019s greatest coaches, Forbes Carlile<\/strong> actually hypnotised Gary before the race and told him he was going to be chased by a shark before he won the race by 70 yards.<\/p>\n Carlile later saying that Winram\u2019s win was due to his ability and hard training saying: The win was a result of his own and his coach Sep Prosser<\/strong>\u2019s work. Hypnosis cannot make an athlete.<\/p>\n But in Gary\u2019s case it gave him confidence and eliminated his pre-race nervous tension.\u201d<\/p>\n After becoming the first swimmer to break 19 minutes in Australia in 1955 in the countdown to the Melbourne Games the following year, the former Randwick High School student went on to make the final in both the 400 and 1500m events won by the incomparable Rose.<\/p>\n Winram had the rare distinction of representing Australia both in the pool and in surf lifesaving \u2013 winning the Australian junior surf race crown with North Bondi in 1954 \u2013 before going on to race on the National team at the Queen\u2019s Carnival and on a tour to South Africa \u2013 setting up a rare feat as dual international.<\/p>\n And in the 1958 Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Winram won silver behind Konrads in the 1500m and bronze again behind Konrads over 400m.<\/p>\n In 1962 Gary began a career as a professional swim coach that would see him become one of Australia\u2019s most respected and successful National Team coaches, building up his squads in Hornsby, Dural and Galston, setting up home at Normanhurst before settling with Jan in retirement on Queensland\u2019s Sunshine Coast.<\/p>\n Winram was the coach behind many State, National and International swimmers, arguably none better than dual Olympian, dual Commonwealth Games gold medallist and World Championship medallist Elli Overton, who credits Gary as the man who made her career the success that it was.<\/p>\n In 1994 Overton was named the NSW Swimmer of the Year and Winram the Coach of the Year.<\/p>\n Winram accepted the award after an emotional speech from Overton dedicating the award to \u201cMr Winram\u201d \u2013 the coach who taught her to swim and took her to the top of Australian and International swimming.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything I achieved in swimming I owe it to Gary, \u201c said Overton (speaking on behalf of so many of his students) \u00a0\u201che has meant everything to me and not just in the pool but also my life outside the pool.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no doubt he has had the major influence on my career.\u201d<\/p>\n Winram had coached Overton to two gold, two silver and two bronze medals at the \u201994 Games in Victoria, Canada; bronze medals at both the World Long and Short Course Championships as well as the Commonwealth record in the 200IM.<\/p>\n REMEMBERING “MR WINRAM”: Elli Overton owes her swimming career to coach Gary Winram. Photo Courtesy: Hanson Media Collection.<\/p><\/div>\n Gary himself, as Dawn Fraser said was a humble champion and a humble coach, saying \u201cIt\u2019s a great honour to receive this award and I must say it\u2019s been a pleasure to coach Elli over the last 10 years. When it comes to dedication then Elli certainly epitomises the word.\u201d<\/p>\n Winram also coached the likes of Graeme Carroll, Lara Devonport, Charlene Benzie, Steve McBrien<\/strong> and 2000 Olympian Cameron Delaney<\/strong> and so many more.<\/p>\n Carroll, who has himself built up a successful career in coaching after winning NSW and Australian championships in swimming, surf lifesaving and water polo, puts his successes down to Gary Winram, who he remembered this morning on pool deck at Woy Woy Aquatic Centre.<\/p>\n He addressed his squad, saying: \u201cIf it hadn\u2019t been for Gary Winram I wouldn\u2019t have been a swimmer, if it hadn\u2019t been for Gary I wouldn\u2019t have been a coach and I wouldn\u2019t be standing here now talking to you guys about my coach and the difference he has made.\u201d<\/p>\n Named as a coach on the Australian team to Japan in 1980, Gary made his first major team for the 1994 Commonwealth Games and World Championships in Rome \u2013 at the same time building up a successful swimming and teaching business on Sydney\u2019s upper north shore.<\/p>\n Gary was a man who preferred to stay out of the limelight, yet reading through his feats in the pool and the surf, he was certainly a headline act, creating major newspaper stories for his feats in winning surf and belt races in between swimming sessions \u2013 believing his surf swimming aided his pool technique.<\/p>\n Something that his coaches didn\u2019t always agree with and actually led to Gary splitting with coach Prosser and moving to Frank Guthrie in the lead up to the Melbourne Games.<\/p>\n \u201cI am regarded as a phenomenon because I compete successfully in both stillwater and surf races,\u201d recalled Winram in an interview at the time.<\/p>\n \u201cFor years…the experts have maintained that it is impossible to excel in both types of swimming but if I can do it I can\u2019t see why other swimmers can\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cBack in the \u201830s Noel Ryan proved that it was possible. He was one of the first swimmers to represent Australia in an Olympic Games and proved himself to be one of our top surfers.<\/p>\n \u201cTo my way of thinking, there is no earthly reason why the two types should be incompatible.<\/p>\n \u201cIn fact I attribute my success as a stillwater swimmer to all my time spent in the surf. It\u2019s a wonderful conditioner and surf swimming makes necessary the use of a style which is most pretty to watch.<\/p>\n \u201cMy Coach Sep Prosser and I finally parted over the same question.<\/p>\n \u201cEarly in 1956 when I was in full training for the Olympics I competed in a surf carnival against Sep\u2019s advice. I won the surf race and of course there were headlines in the Sunday papers. Sep was pretty mad when he found out and I told him it was my way of relaxing…..and I coached myself for the next three weeks before joining Guthrie…and I continued to surf.\u201d<\/p>\n Gary also remembered making that Melbourne Olympic team at 20 years of age.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter I was selected we moved to the Olympic Village in Heidelberg and we trained there for three weeks,\u201d recalled Winram in an interview with News Ltd in 2000.<\/p>\n \u201cI was excited, I wouldn\u2019t say nervous until I stood up on the blocks for the 400m freestyle. My knees were shaking so much just before the final I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d be able to stand up.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Olympics was the highlight of my swimming career…I had achieved the goal I had set for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n PLATINUM LEVEL PRESENTATION: Gary Winram (front) with above (L-R) Nancy Shaw, Tony Shaw, Lynn Elliott, John Rodgers, Dawn Fraser and Gary Toner. Photo Courtesy: Gary Toner.<\/p><\/div>\n A man who went on to make a difference in the world of swimming and a man who will be remembered as a humble swimming and surf champion and a Platinum Level coach who has left a special legacy in swimming and coaching in Australia.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Australian Olympic Swimmer, Lifesaver And Platinum Coach Gary Winram Passes Away Aged 85 Australia has lost one of its greatest ever swim-surf stars, 1956 Olympian and 1958 Commonwealth Games medallist,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7938,"featured_media":505891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,62061,122075],"tags":[4054,130901,1369,127,3339,1236,130904,15075,130900,13160,26414,9341,130822,4569,130903,130902],"class_list":["post-505890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-obituaries","category-oceania","tag-cameron-delaney","tag-charlenbe-benzie","tag-commonwealth-games","tag-dawn-fraser","tag-elli-overton","tag-forbes-carlile","tag-frank-guthertie","tag-gary-winram","tag-grasemer-carroll","tag-john-konrads","tag-jon-donohoe","tag-lara-davenport","tag-melbourne-olympics","tag-murray-rose","tag-sep-prtosser","tag-steve-mcbrien"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n![\"Gary](\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Gary-Winram-re-size-700x500.jpg\")
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