Laurie Lawrence

Lawrence states:[3] And it was there that I got my real passion and love for swimming... ...'56 was just a magic time for me, as a young fella.

And when I wasn't down amongst the athletes, asking for their autograph, then I was up there sitting on the balcony, hands over the edge of the concrete building just peering down into the water, watching Dawn Fraser, Murray Rose, John Konrads, David Tyler, Lorraine Crapp - they just keep coming - Kevin Berry.

He played rugby union to get a scholarship to be a Phys Ed teacher, which led to his selection for the 1964 international tour of New Zealand.

[3] Lawrence then took a hiatus from swim coaching in 1975 to support his wife (and former swimmer) Jocelyn, after the birth of his daughter Jane.

Lawrence was one of the Australian Olympic swimming team coaches for the Los Angeles in 1984, Seoul in 1988 and Barcelona in 1992.

His Olympic coaching achievements include 10 gold, 11 silver and 12 bronze medals from swimmers he has directly assisted.

They have three children: Jane, Kate and Emma, all of whom are employed at the Laurie Lawrence Swim School in Brisbane.