Austin Rawlinson

Austin Rawlinson, MBE RM (7 November 1902 – 25 November 2000) was one of the first Englishmen to swim the back crawl in competitions, which he has done in ca.

[1] He won the first British backstroke title (150 yards in 1921), and defended it from 1922 to 1926.

Rawlinson finished fifth in the 100-metre backstroke at the 1924 Summer Olympics.

[3] A police officer by profession, he spent most of his free time as a swimming coach, referee and administrator.

In the 1961 New Year Honours he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his services to swimming;[4] in 1968 he was appointed as president of Amateur Swimming Association, and in 1994 he was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.