{"id":590852,"date":"2024-07-15T21:56:31","date_gmt":"2024-07-16T04:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=590852"},"modified":"2024-07-16T14:55:54","modified_gmt":"2024-07-16T21:55:54","slug":"manly-olympian-frank-oneill-the-first-australian-to-break-60-seconds-for-110-yards-freestyle-and-who-taught-greta-garbo-how-to-swim-dies-age-97","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/manly-olympian-frank-oneill-the-first-australian-to-break-60-seconds-for-110-yards-freestyle-and-who-taught-greta-garbo-how-to-swim-dies-age-97\/","title":{"rendered":"Passages: Frank O\u2019Neill, The First Australian To Break 60 seconds for 110 Yards, Dies Aged 97"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manly Olympian Frank O\u2019Neill, The First Australian To Break 60 seconds for 110 Yards and who taught Greta Garbo How To Swim, Dies Age 97<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of Australia\u2019s oldest surviving Olympians and Commonwealth Games medallists, Frank O\u2019Neill,<\/strong> has passed away peacefully at home in his beloved suburb of Manly, aged 97.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill was born in Manly in September of 1926 and became one of the iconic Sydney seaside suburb\u2019s famous sporting identities \u2013 a life that took him around the world and back again to the Olympics and the French Riviera.<\/p>\n

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OLYMIC SWIM TEAM CAPTAIN: Frank O’Neill in his hey day.Photo courtesy Australian Olympic Committee.<\/p><\/div>\n

A champion all-round swimmer, who was the first Australian to crack the minute for 110 yards freestyle; a champion surf lifesaver and expert water polo player, the swim coach to film stars who became a horse whisperer.<\/p>\n

While living on the French Riviera, O\u2019Neill taught actresses Greta Garbo\u00a0<\/strong>and Ginger Rogers<\/strong> how to swim the Aussie crawl and an aging author Somerset Maugham<\/strong> how to dive, as he married and re-married into and mixed with royalty and the rich and famous.<\/p>\n

A young lad who grew up under the pines at Manly, taught to swim by his father Tom (a World War 1 AIF gunner) at the famous Manly Baths.<\/p>\n

Tom was the manager at the Baths for over 30 years through an era when Manly was home to the likes of 1924 Olympic champions, swimming\u2019s wunderkind Andrew \u201cBoy\u201d Charlton <\/strong>and diving\u2019s Richmond \u201cDick\u201d Eve.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Frank lived upstairs from the Baths, and it became his backyard; and it was also the home of the Manly Swimming Club where he was eventually coached by local identity George Lawson<\/strong> who he had built up a great rapport with.<\/p>\n

And if young Frank wasn\u2019t at the pool swimming or playing water polo, he could be found learning to shoot the waves at nearby surf beaches at Manly and North Steyne, the club he represented in State and National lifesaving competitions, with great success in the early 1940s.<\/p>\n

A member of the North Steyne surf teams that won the NSW State Senior and Junior Surf teams titles in 1943-44 (with the second World War suspending the Australian Championships) \u2013 the senior with noted Manly swimmers Warren Boyd, Jamie Jenkins<\/strong> and the prolific surf champion John Ashley<\/strong>, the juniors with Boyd, Ashley and Ken McMinn.<\/strong><\/p>\n